Woman, 31, fatally beaten in Old City office

A 31-year-old New Jersey woman was fatally beaten with a metal pipe inside an Old City office Wednesday afternoon and a 48-year-old man was taken into custody, police said.

Around 2:15 p.m., police received multiple calls about a person with a weapon and people hiding in an eighth-floor office on the 300 block of Chestnut Street. The woman, whose name was withheld, was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 3:16.

According to police, witnesses said the man, who apparently was renting a small office space on the eighth floor, approached the woman from behind and started hitting her in the head with a pipe. She was sitting at a reception desk when the man attacked her, police said.

When police arrived at the building, they saw the suspect allegedly with blood on him exiting an elevator on the ground floor. The officers stopped him and checked a bag he was carrying — and found two metal pipes covered in blood, police said. The man, who lives near the office, was then taken into custody. His name was not released.

There were about 10 other people on the floor at the time of the attack, police said. No one else was injured.

Police said the man had prior interactions in the office area with the victim, who was described by colleagues as a team leader.

The eighth floor is used by a company called Regus, which rents work spaces and offers other services. A representative for Regus could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.

Further details were not immediately available.