A Bonnie and Clyde pair of armed bandits robbed two men and shot one outside a Far Northeast gun shop and range Thursday night, making off with seven stolen firearms and leaving one of the victims critically wounded.
Shortly after 8:30 p.m., police raced to the gun range and store at Delaware Valley Sports Center, on Geiger Road near Gantry in Bustleton for a reported shooting, Chief Inspector Scott Small said.
There, they found a 67-year-old man in the parking lot suffering from a gunshot wound to the groin. Police took him to Aria Health's Torresdale hospital, where he remained in critical condition late Thursday night.
Small said the wounded man's 68-year-old friend said they were both leaving the gun range, which was open for business at the time of the shooting, when a man and a woman, both armed with handguns, approached them in the parking lot and demanded their firearms, wallets and cell phones.
The witness told police that both he and his friend complied, handing over seven guns, their wallets and phones, but that the male assailant shot the 67-year-old man anyway, hitting him in the groin and critically wounding him.
The pair then fled east on Geiger in a dark-colored car with tinted windows.
Shortly after 9 p.m., officers had a car believed to be connected to the robbery and shooting stopped in the area of Schuylkill Avenue and Christian Street in South Philadelphia. Its occupants, a male driver and a female passenger, were questioned by investigators and later released after a witness from the initial robbery told police the two didn't match the descriptions of the alleged robbers.
Police sources said a similar armed robbery, also perpetrated by a man and a woman, happened Wednesday night outside the Gun Range (formerly Colosimo's) on Spring Garden Street near 9th. Detectives are investigating whether that robbery, during which a source said two .22-caliber handguns were taken, and Thursday's may be related.
Police said surveillance video of both robberies is being reviewed by investigators.
Cops late Thursday were hunting for the duo, who were believed to have fled the scene with at least nine handguns in their possession.
"We are now looking for two very dangerous individuals," Small said. "They are extremely dangerous and heavily armed suspects."
Anyone with information in either robbery should contact Northeast Detectives at 215-686-3153 or Central Detectives at 215-686-3093.