Man dead, woman injured in possible murder-suicide attempt in the Germantown section of Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — A 25-year-old woman is in critical but stable condition after being shot inside a Germantown home early Tuesday, where police say a 26-year-old man was also found dead in what investigators are calling a possible attempted murder-suicide.

Police said officers responded to the 300 block of Milne Street and found the woman on the second floor of the home with gunshot wounds to her arm, leg, torso and shoulder.

A 26-year-old man was found nearby with a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene.

“This may be an attempted murder suicide at this time based on witness accounts and the crime scene and the fact that we recovered a semiautomatic handgun right next to that male,” said Chief Inspector Scott Small of the Philadelphia Police Department.

The woman’s father, who identified his daughter as Karen Sumter, said he had just returned home from the hospital and that his daughter is in the ICU and underwent surgery.

He said he was inside the home at the time of the shooting and that his daughter had come there a day earlier to get away from her boyfriend.

“My daughter Karen, her boyfriend, they got into an argument,” he said.

He described what he said led up to the shooting.

“He had a tracker on her car. He came here last night, early this morning, climbed over my fence, broke the window, came in, came upstairs. He had the gun on me and my son and my daughter,” he said.

At the time of the shooting, five children – ranging in age from 9 months to 9 years old – were inside the home and asleep, according to authorities. The woman’s father said the children are all his daughter’s and that she shares three of them with the suspected shooter.

“I was aware of it since she been knowing this cat. I never liked him. They been together about three to four years, and he always was putting his hands on her and always had a problem,” he said.

Shikera Boyer, a crisis advocate with PAAN, said the impact of the violence extends beyond those directly involved.

“Now, kids left without a parent. One in the hospital. I pray she makes it, but yeah – I hope it stops,” Boyer said.

The woman’s father said he is waiting for his daughter’s recovery.

“Just waiting for my daughter waiting for my daughter to come home,” he said.

Police have not released the name of the man who died. The investigation remains ongoing.