An elderly woman died from her injuries after a driver in a stolen SUV struck several vehicles and then fled the scene on foot on Fairmount Avenue in Philadelphia on Wednesday.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Jovan Lowe, 18, of the Strawberry Mansion section of Philadelphia, police announced on Saturday afternoon. Lowe is wanted for murder, homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, fleeing police, receiving stolen property and leaving the scene in the fatal hit and run that killed Julia Mae Abraham, 78.
Abraham was sitting in the passenger's seat of her sister's silver Mercury Mariner along the 3700 block of Fairmount Avenue at 12:31 p.m. when the vehicle was struck by a stolen white Jeep Grand Cherokee, which police allege was driven by Lowe.
Below is the photo Philadelphia Police released of Lowe, asking for the community's help in any information that leads to his location.
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Surveillance video obtained by NBC10 shows the stolen Cherokee striking the vehicles before flipping over across the intersection. The video then shows two police cruisers drive by immediately after the crash.
Police say they were chasing the vehicle driven by Lowe, and that he had already struck five other parked vehicles before crashing into the Mercury Mariner.
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Tyrelle Butler was sitting inside his car when he heard the crash.
“Looking into my sideview mirror, I could see in one mirror, a vehicle getting hit so fast and so hard with a door sliding out open and in another rearview mirror I saw a white jeep just flying,” Butler said.
The driver fled the scene on foot in an unknown direction.
Butler stayed with Abraham at the scene of the crash. She was then taken to Presbyterian Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 1:46 p.m.
"She was breathing. She was giving signs," Butler said. "She was showing that she was still hanging in there tough. It's mindless. It's mindless is what this is. How does someone get involved in something like this? And what? For a joy ride?"
Abraham's daughter, Sylvia Abraham, told NBC10 her mother was with her sister who had stepped out of the vehicle to go inside a nearby store at the time of the crash.
"[My aunt] stepped one foot on the steps and she heard a boom when she turned around," Sylvia Abraham said. "All she saw was the car up in the air."
Abraham was in tears as she described her mother.
"She's a beautiful woman. She cared about everybody. She loved to do hair. She loved to cook. She was an amazing cook. But she will no longer cook no more," she said. "Ya'll need to stop hurting innocent people."
Police recovered the Jeep Grand Cherokee, which investigators said was stolen in King of Prussia Wednesday morning.
Anybody with tips on this case or the whereabouts of Lowe are asked to submit a tip with the Philadelphia Police Department's Accident Investigation Division by calling 215-685-3180, by calling 911, or online at phillypolice.com.
While the overall number of hit and run crashes are down this year compared to the past two years, the number of fatal hit and run crashes are up.
As of Dec. 26, there have been 31 deadly hit-and-run crashes in Philadelphia in 2022, compared to 20 at the same time last year and 29 at the same time in 2020, according to Philadelphia Police.
In all, there have been 740 hit-and-run crashes in Philadelphia in 2022, compared to 906 at the same time last year and 847 at the same time in 2020.
