Surveillance photo
Lead was flying through the hallways of a Rhawnhurst motel on March 31 as two men treated the business like their personal paintball arena, except the bullets were real.
Numerous surveillance cameras inside the Roosevelt Motor Inn at 7600 Roosevelt Blvd. recorded the prolonged gunfight. Police are trying to identify two alleged shooters and figure out why they placed several motel patrons in harm’s way.
A motel employee called 911 at 12:28 a.m. to report hearing gunshots in a hallway. When officers arrived at the scene, the employee told them that he had seen a man with a handgun run past the front desk, into the parking lot and southbound on Roosevelt Boulevard.
Detectives recovered the video, which shows what appears to be two gunmen exchanging shots with each other while navigating stairwells and ducking around corners. At one point, one of the gunmen crouched behind a corner in an apparent attempt to ambush his approaching foe, but the second gunman reached around the corner and fired blindly, prompting the first guy to flee.
Police described one of the gunmen as black, in his 20s or 30s and thin with long dreadlocks, a black sweatshirt and black pants. A second gunman was described as black, in his 30s, with a beard, blue coat, jeans, white sneakers and black skullcap.
Visit the Philadelphia Police channel on YouTube.com to view the surveillance video. Call 215–686-TIPS or text to PPDTIP to report information. ••
