PHILADELPHIA - Authorities in Philadelphia are investigating a spate of violent abductions and robberies that they believe may have been carried out by members of the same group.The Philadelphia Police Department's Special Victim's Unit outlined three incidents that happened within a 24-hour period between Tuesday and Wednesday.
Authorities say a woman was walking along the 1200 block of Academy Road around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday when she was robbed at gunpoint and forced into a U-Haul van by four gunmen.
Several items were taken from the victim, according to police, and she was punched in the face and shot at twice as she exited the U-Haul van. MORE LOCAL HEADLINESA short time later, investigators say a man was using a drive-thru ATM machine at a TD Bank of the 6300 block of Roosevelt Boulevard when he was boxed in by a U-Haul cargo van.
Two gunmen exited the van and demanded the victim to withdraw money from the ATM before stealing his 2011 Mercades-Benz. The suspects in both incidents are described by police as 3-4 Black males in the late teens or early 20s.