INQUIRER: According to officials, a gray Cadillac [NOT pictured, above] was carjacked at 50th and Arch Streets, west of the campus, about 3 a.m. Philadelphia police spotted the carjackers and tried to stop the stolen car, which sped away. After a short chase, the driver crashed the car into a concrete barrier at 40th and Locust, adjacent to Locust Walk, where several Penn dormitories are located. The two assailants [NOT pictured, above] who were both armed, fled the scene of the crash, which during the day is typically a busy spot on campus. When he got to the area behind the city library at 40th and Walnut, one of the men fired his gun at police, who were not hit. The officers returned fire, striking the gunman. MORE
UPDATE: A man killed by University of Pennsylvania police following a carjacking had been sought for jumping bail for an earlier drug arrest, according to police and court records. Police identified him this morning as Karl Sappleton, 18, of the 4500 block of Tampa Street in North Philadelphia’s Juniata Park section. MORE
ALSO: The 53-year-old driver picked up 21-year-old Justin Niezporowicz of Philadelphia in the 200 block of Brown Street around 1:50 a.m. As he was driving, he noticed that Niezporowicz was smoking and told him to put it out. That’s when Niezporowicz allegedly extinguished his cigarette on the cab driver’s face. Police then say that the suspect got out of the vehicle and punched the cab driver. When the driver tried to run away, he fell and struck his head on a fire hydrant. Niezporowicz then continued to hit the driver as he was on the ground, according to authorities. MORE
ALSO: A robbery victim remains in critical condition at Hahnemann University Hospital after being beaten in the head with a tire iron in North Philadelphia early this morning, according to police. The 21-year-old man was walking on North 12th Street near Poplar around 1:11 a.m. when he was hit in the back of the head with a tire iron by one of two men who stole his backpack, police said. Cops rolled up on the scene and saw the beating and the victim bleeding from the head, police said. MORE