Police are searching for a man who raped a 55-year-old woman in a bathroom stall Sunday inside the Macy’s department store in Center City.
Wielding barbecue-style skewers, he threatened to kill the woman during the sexual assault, which occurred in a third-floor bathroom at around 11:30 a.m., investigators said.
Surveillance images show the man going to the bathroom area about 20 minutes before the attack, according to authorities.
Following the incident, he fled from the store, at 13th and Market streets, hopped on the Market Frankford Line and got off at 52nd Street, police said.
The woman’s husband was shopping on Macy’s first floor.
Philadelphia Police Capt. Mark Burgmann, who is in charge of the Special Victims Unit, told reporters Monday evening that investigators have not seen any similar recent crimes.
Authorities described the suspect as a 20-year-old Black man with a thin build. He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, black pants with white stripes on the left leg, and a three-quarter length jacket with white writing on each shoulder and possibly four buttons on both sleeves.
Anyone with information about the assault is asked to contact Special Victims at 215-685-6325; call or text 215-686-8477; or submit an anonymous tip at www.phillypolice.com/forms/submit-a-tip.
Eight wounded in shootings
Eight people were injured in separate shootings across the city Monday afternoon through Tuesday, authorities said.
In West Philadelphia, two people were hospitalized after gunfire rang out just after 3:15 p.m. Tuesday on the 6200 block of Chestnut Street.
Police said a 15-year-old girl was shot once in the head, and she was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in critical condition.
The other victim, a 20-year-old man, was also shot in the head. He was listed in stable condition, according to authorities.
A 26-year-old man was shot once in the hip at around 1:15 p.m. Tuesday on the 4200 block of Markland Street in Juniata, police said. Officers took him to Temple University Hospital, and he is expected to survive.
Just before 11:45 p.m. Monday, a 15-year-old boy was shot in the torso and left foot on the 1300 block of N. 57th Street in West Philadelphia.
Authorities said he was taken to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he was in critical condition.
In Point Breeze, a 25-year-old man was shot in the left side of the head at 10:40 p.m. Monday on the 2000 block of Titan Street. Officers rushed him to Penn Presbyterian, and he is expected to physically recover.
Three people were apprehended at the scene, and investigators recovered multiple weapons.
A 31-year-old man was hospitalized after being shot in the upper left thigh and back at around 8:30 p.m. Monday on the 2000 block of E. Wishart Street in Kensington, police said. He was later listed in stable condition.
Not far away, on the 3100 block of F Street, also in Kensington, a 23-year-old woman was shot in the back at around 5:15 p.m. Monday. She was transported to Temple University Hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries.
A man wearing a black mask and brown jumpsuit shot a 32-year-old man in the chest at 4 p.m. Monday during a robbery inside a pharmacy on the 3900 block of Kensington Avenue in Juniata, police said.
Medics took the victim to Temple University Hospital, and he was placed in critical condition.
The suspect fled the scene in a white Chevrolet Malibu with no license plate, according to investigators.
