A man managed to fight off two armed assailants in Philadelphia while being shot twice.
Video from nearby buildings recorded a 46-year-old man fighting off two armed attackers in the early afternoon on Monday. The attempted muggers fled the scene in a dark SUV after the man managed to wrestle a gun from one of the attackers and fired upon the other.
The video, obtained by the Daily Mail, shows one assailant walking down a sidewalk. Another camera angle is then shown of the victim struggling with the assailant over a gun as the two collide with a stop sign before falling to the pavement.
The second assailant is seen running from across the street as the victim and the first attempted mugger struggle on the ground over a gun. The second assailant pulls a gun and appears to look for an open shot. For a moment, the victim is able to hold the first assailant between himself and the second before gaining control of the gun and exchanging fire with the second attacker.
The two men exchange fire as the second attacker drops to the ground, apparently shot. The first assailant is seen fleeing the scene as soon as he loses his gun.
The two attackers fled in a dark SUV that authorities thought to be an Infiniti. The victim was transported to a nearby hospital with bullet wounds to his buttock and left ankle.
Shootings in the City of Brotherly Love are at a record rate so far this year. Police crime data from the first of the year through June 21 show that shootings across the city have increased 8% when compared to the same time period last year. That amounts to nearly 1,100 people being shot.
The record rate in shootings has been somewhat tempered by a year-to-year decrease in homicides. Over the same time period, there have been 15 fewer homicides in the city than last year, a 6% drop.
Still, the chaos fed by crime has led to “a general feeling of fear” across the city, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told Fox News last month.
“Residence are feeling dismayed, obviously. There’s a general feeling of fear, whether it’s perception or reality just because of the numbers we’re seeing,” Outlaw said. “Our homicides have been trending slightly downward, but … we’re still seeing a vast number of shootings.”