Man arrested in shooting of 3 women on SEPTA bus in West Philly

An 18-year-old man wanted for the shooting of three women on a SEPTA bus in West Philadelphia earlier this month was apprehended in Delaware on Wednesday, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

Raphael Ezeamaka, whose last known address was in Upper Darby, was located in a Middletown, Del., apartment, said Robert Clark, supervisory deputy marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

When members from the Marshals Service knocked on the door and announced themselves, Ezeamaka allegedly attempted to flee but was arrested in a rear bedroom without incident, Clark said in a news release.

Ezeamaka, who was being sought on three counts of attempt to commit criminal homicide and related offenses, was being held at the Howard R. Young Correctional Institution in Wilmington where he was awaiting extradition to Philadelphia.

Just after 4:30 p.m. Oct. 8, Ezeamaka and several others who got on the G bus in South Philadelphia exited at 57th and Catharine Streets and started firing into the bus, police said.

Three women — ages 60, 56, and 29 — were wounded by the gunfire. The bus sped away from the gunfire and stopped at 57th Street and Larchwood Avenue, about a block away, police said.

Ezeamaka and the others had boarded the bus at 19th Street and Oregon Avenue and did not pay the fare, police said. There was a brief exchange of words with the bus driver, but no other incidents on the bus. When Ezeamaka and the others got off, he allegedly turned around and fired shots into the side of the bus.

“The arrest of Ezeamaka should assure the citizens of Philadelphia that violent crime fugitives will be aggressively pursued no matter where they flee,” Clark said in a statement.

The U.S. Marshals Service had offered a $5,000 reward leading to Ezeamaka’s arrest. Clark on Wednesday did not mention the reward and said only that investigators “developed information” that Ezeamaka was at the apartment.