Read the criminal history of suspect Marshall Thomas here.
LEANNE MATLACH
CHRIS STOVER
The Temple News
A 19-year-old female shot at 15th and Norris streets late Tuesday night is in critical condition at Temple Hospital.
Police are now searching for their suspect, Marshall Thomas, 19, of the 900-block of Brown Street. They say he is considered armed and dangerous.
Lt. Quaiser of the Philadelphia Police Department confirmed at the scene the victim, a non-Temple affiliated female, was shot in the chest around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Police have not released the name of the victim.
Witnesses said as many as five shots were fired outside of a security kiosk by the turf field. The kiosk has bullet holes in it, and the security guard who was in the booth at the time is fine.
Temple Police said the victim was shot while standing in front of the security kiosk. Thomas and the victim were having an argument before shots were fired, police said.
Police took about nine witnesses, including some Temple students, to Police Headquarters for statements. They named Thomas, a 19-year-old black male, as their sole suspect Wednesday. Thomas is said to have left the scene on a bicycle.
After the shots were fired, people in the area began screaming and huddling, witnesses said. Police closed access to Norris Street from Broad Street after the incident. The scene was mostly cleared by 2:10 a.m.
“My friends were walking home from 7-Eleven and the streets were blocked off. I came outside and the cops were everywhere,” junior journalism major Audra Neff-Williams said.
“I called Temple Police, trying to find out what happened, and they said they could not provide any information,” senior business major Mike Sweet said. “I think we have a right to know what’s going on. No TU-Alert was sent out.”
As of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, no TU-Alert was sent by the university. Temple tested the system last Friday.
“I understand that cops won’t say anything at crime scenes, but Temple’s whole thing is the TU-Alert,” Sweet said. “I mean, they just tested it [a few] days ago.”
Ray Betzner, director of university relations, said an alert was not sent out because the incident is considered a domestic dispute and was not seen as an ongoing threat to the Temple community.
Temple Police said another security guard will be on duty at that location later today.
Call Philadelphia Police or 9-1-1 if you have any information regarding the whereabouts of Marshall Thomas.
Stay with temple-news.com for continuing updates on this developing story.
Chris Stover and LeAnne Matlach can be reached at templenews@gmail.com.
What is the point of the alert system if when there is a shooting on campus, they don’t use it and will not tell us what’s going on? The cops at Virginia Tech thought that they had a “domestic shooting situation” on their hands too, right before a huge massacre. They should have sent out a warning with information. This is the typical Temple mindset; we’ll come up with something else to promote to prospective students, sell it on the tour, tell them how often we test it…but when it comes down to going out of our way to use it to warn students that a gunman just fled into campus/the area off campus where students LIVE, we can’t be bothered. They don’t need to know.
The shooter escaped…and no alert?
Peachy. It’s confirmed; Temple U consists of morons beyond belief.