Woman fights for life after being trapped in blaze of gunfire in Kensington

An 18-year-old woman was fighting for her life Tuesday after she was shot while sitting in a car that got caught in gunfire on a Kensington street, police said.

More than 30 shots were fired, including rounds from an assault-style weapon, in the violence about 9:30 p.m. Monday on the 3500 block of Emerald Street in Kensington’s Harrowgate neighborhood, Police Chief Inspector Scott Small told reporters at the scene.

Police said the woman, who is two months pregnant, was a passenger in a 2017 Chevrolet Impala. The car had been northbound on Emerald when the driver stopped at Atlantic Street to talk to a man she knows, police said.

When the driver heard gunshots coming from the opposite corner of Atlantic, she threw the car into reverse and backed down Emerald before turning onto Clarence Street, where the victim was struck in the chest and torso, police said.

Police officers responding to numerous calls reporting the shooting put the woman, who had become unresponsive, in a patrol car and rushed her to Temple University Hospital, where she was reported to be in critical condition.

Small said the shooters apparently were armed with an assault-style rifle and a semiautomatic handgun.

The woman did not appear to be a target of the shooting, but the motive was not clear, police said.

Bullets also hit three homes on the street, two of which were occupied, Small said. No one inside the buildings was injured.

Police said they were looking for at least two gunmen.