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Woman killed trying to break up fight in Kensington

One of the two men who were fighting brandished a gun and shot the woman, who was an "unintended target," police said.

Philadelphia Police crime scene tape.
Philadelphia Police crime scene tape.Read moreALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer

A woman police say was an “unintended target” was shot and killed while trying to break up a fight that erupted into gunfire in Kensington early Monday morning.

Police responded to the 2500 block of Kensington Avenue shortly after midnight for a shooting, said Police Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore. When officers arrived, they found a 41-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to her right arm, police said.

Surveillance footage reviewed by investigators showed a group of people gathered at that block, and two men getting into a physical altercation, said Vanore. Several people were seen trying to intervene, he said, including a man who pushed the two men apart.

The woman also tried to break up the fight, and one of the two men who had been arguing pulled a gun out from a shoulder bag and fired at the man he was fighting with, striking the woman, said Vanore.

The woman was an “unintended target,” shot at close range, said Police Inspector D.F. Pace. Police later identified the woman as Kelly Kane, of the 1900 block of Albert Street.

Kane was taken to Temple University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead shortly after 12:30 a.m.

No arrests were made and no weapon was recovered.

Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call homicide detectives at 215-686-3334. Tips can also be submitted anonymously by calling or texting the department’s tip line at 215-686-8477.