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SEPTA bus driver discovers a man who was shot in the head while driving in Graduate Hospital

The man was unconscious when police arrived on the scene, said Chief Inspector Scott Small. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

The scene along S. 17th Street, just above South Street, in Graduate Hospital on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, after a bus driver found an unconscious shooting victim in the driver's seat idled Prius late Monday night.
The scene along S. 17th Street, just above South Street, in Graduate Hospital on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, after a bus driver found an unconscious shooting victim in the driver's seat idled Prius late Monday night.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer

A SEPTA bus driver found an unconscious man with a gunshot wound to his head while driving his route late Monday night.

Police were called to the scene at 17th and South streets in Graduate Hospital after 11:40 p.m. when a SEPTA bus driver could not get around a blue Toyota Prius idling in the middle of the street. He found an injured man sitting in the car, which was still running.

Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small told reporters the victim, who police believe to be in his 30s or 40s, had suffered a gunshot wounds to his head and right shoulder. Officers believe the shot was fired from inside the vehicle based on a shell casing found in the backseat, according to CBS3.

“The driver was slumped in the driver’s seat,” Small told reporters. “He was unresponsive [and] bleeding heavily.”

Small said the man was taken to Jefferson University Hospital, where he is in “very critical condition.”

Police said surveillance footage showed a man dressed in all black with a hood pulled over his face exiting the passenger seat, and fleeing south on 18th Street on foot. Small said police believe that man could be the shooter.

A motive has not yet been determined.