for BigTrial.net
While on tour in Philadelphia today with her fellow legislators, U.S. Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon was carjacked at gunpoint at 2:46 p.m. in FDR Park.
The congresswoman, a 62 year-old Democrat from Pennsylvania's 5th congressional district, which includes South Philly, was returning to her parked car in the 1900 block of Pattison Avenue when, according to police, she was approached by two black males, between 20 and 30 years of age, driving a dark-colored SUV.
Both males were armed and demanded the keys to her vehicle. They drove off with her blue 2017 Acura MDX with PA license plate LKG8893. The carjackers were last seen traveling west bound on Pattison Avenue towards Pennrose. They escaped with the congressman's U.S. government cellphone, purse and government ID.
In a statement, Scanlon's office told 6ABC that she "thanks the Philadelphia Police Department for their swift response, and appreciates the efforts of both the Sergeant at Arms in D.C. and her local police department for coordinating with Philly PD to ensure her continued safety."
"It's disheartening, and quite frankly infuriating, that criminals feel emboldened to commit such a reckless crime in the middle of the day in what should be a place of tranquility and peace -- one of Philadelphia's beautiful parks," Kenney declared in a statement to 6ABC. "My thoughts are with her during what I'm sure is a traumatic time."
While on tour in Philadelphia today with her fellow legislators, U.S. Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon was carjacked at gunpoint at 2:46 p.m. in FDR Park.
The congresswoman, a 62 year-old Democrat from Pennsylvania's 5th congressional district, which includes South Philly, was returning to her parked car in the 1900 block of Pattison Avenue when, according to police, she was approached by two black males, between 20 and 30 years of age, driving a dark-colored SUV.
Both males were armed and demanded the keys to her vehicle. They drove off with her blue 2017 Acura MDX with PA license plate LKG8893. The carjackers were last seen traveling west bound on Pattison Avenue towards Pennrose. They escaped with the congressman's U.S. government cellphone, purse and government ID.
No injuries were reported.
It's just been a couple of weeks since Dec. 7th, when one of Scanlon's fellow Democrats, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, famously declared at a news conference that there's no crisis of violent crime here in Philadelphia, and that visitors shouldn't be fearful about coming to town.
“We don’t have a crisis of lawlessness, we don’t have a crisis of crime, we don’t have a crisis of violence," Krasner famously insisted at a disaster of a press conference, a video that the D.A.'s office subsequently deleted from its Facebook page.
Asked whether tourists should be fearful of coming to Philadelphia at a time when the city had already set a new all-time record for homicides, Krasner said, “No, they should not."
“They should come into the city of Philadelphia, they should enjoy every wonderful thing this city offers, in terms of shopping, in terms of staying overnight, in terms of dining out, in terms of walking around with their kids, wearing their mittens, they should enjoy all of that," said the D.A. whose comments made him a national joke on Fox News.
"But no, they should not be fearful about that," Krasner said about the threat of violent crime, because, "This city welcomes them with open arms."
Within a week of that public service announcement, police reported 15 armed robberies in Center City alone. In a half-dozen of the those crimes, people were robbed at gunpoint of their wallets, credit cards, cell phones, as well as five watches including four Rolexes.
Now, a congresswoman has been victimized.
And, as he usually does when crime dominates the news, the incompetent and impotent Mayor Kenney wanted everyone to know how the carjacking of the congresswoman had impacted his feelings.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia's murder rate now stands at a record 544, a 14% increase over last year. At this rate, the city will set a new all-time record this year with 568 murders.
No doubt the mayor will continue to be disheartened and infuriated when we set that new all-time record. But not disheartened and infuriated enough to do anything about it.