Detectives recovered evidence from more than 40 gunshots and are tracing a stolen sedan seen leaving the North Gratz Street scene.
PHILADELPHIA — Surveillance video, two vehicles and evidence from more than 40 gunshots are at the center of a Philadelphia police investigation into a North Philadelphia shooting that wounded an 83-year-old woman sitting outside her home Wednesday evening.
Investigators are examining footage that police say captured the shooting on the 2300 block of North Gratz Street near Dauphin Street. Chief Inspector Scott Small said officers found spent shell casings from two different weapons, evidence police believe could indicate gunfire was exchanged between people or groups. Authorities had not announced any arrests by Thursday morning.
Police said video shows a blue sedan traveling east on Dauphin Street before stopping at Gratz Street. A man is seen getting out and firing north along the block before returning to the vehicle, according to investigators. The sedan then continued east on Dauphin Street toward 18th Street.
Authorities said the blue sedan had been reported stolen earlier Wednesday. Police were still searching for the vehicle after the shooting and had not publicly identified the gunman or anyone else believed to have been inside it. Investigators also had not announced a possible motive or identified the intended target of the gunfire.
A second vehicle became another focus of the investigation after officers found it abandoned on Gratz Street with multiple bullet strikes. Police said the sedan had gone over a curb and struck a utility pole hard enough to break it. The damaged pole was left resting on the vehicle, which was still running when officers reached the scene.
No one was inside that car when police arrived, but officers saw a firearm inside, authorities said. Detectives were working to determine who had occupied the vehicle and whether it was connected to the exchange of gunfire. Police have not publicly said whether ballistic testing has linked that firearm to any of the shell casings recovered at the scene.
Amid the gunfire, an 83-year-old woman sitting outside her home was struck twice in the torso, police said. She was taken to Temple University Hospital and was listed in stable condition. Authorities reported no other injuries from the shooting.
The volume of gunfire left investigators processing an area that stretched along the block between Dauphin and York streets. Police said neighborhood surveillance cameras recorded the incident, giving detectives material to review as they reconstruct the movements of the people and vehicles involved.
The investigation remained active Thursday. Detectives were still trying to determine who fired the shots, whether the abandoned vehicle was directly involved in the gunfire and what led to the confrontation that wounded the woman outside her home.
Author note: Last updated Oct. 1, 2026.