The family of an 18-year-old fatally shot by Pa. State Police called for a ‘full, transparent investigation’ into the incident

An attorney for the family of Anthony Allegrini Jr., an 18-year-old who was fatally shot this weekend by a Pennsylvania state trooper on I-95, called Monday for a “full, transparent investigation” into the episode, which authorities said occurred after a series of chaotic street races across the city over the course of several hours.

Speaking at a news conference Monday evening, Enrique Latoison told reporters: “They want to make sure there’s accountability on all sides here,” later adding: “This is not going to be something that’s just going to go away, [where] the truth is not going to come out, [or] the full investigation is not going to be done — we’re not going to be OK with that.”

The remarks underscored questions Allegrini’s friends and relatives have raised about the shooting, particularly after videos posted on social media appeared to show Allegrini physically struggling after being shot while lying alone on the highway — even as a nearby trooper appeared to turn his gun toward a motorist filming the scene instead of rendering aid.

The comments came after law enforcement officials addressed the shooting at a news conference Monday afternoon. They offered few new details about the gunfire, but criticized what they said was dangerous behavior by scores of people who met up at different places across Philadelphia over the weekend — including on I-95 — to drag race or cause other chaos on the city’s streets.

State Police Capt. Gerard B. McShea largely reiterated the account the agency had offered over the weekend about the shooting, saying two troopers who responded to reports of illegal street racing and car drifting near Penn’s Landing around 3:30 a.m. came upon an Audi S4 with an obscured license plate stopped on the shoulder of the highway.

Troopers then saw four people, including Allegrini, get into the car and tried to box it in, McShea said, first using their police cruiser, and then by confronting it on foot. The people in the car “failed to yield” to the officers’ commands, McShea said, then “struck the two troopers” while trying to drive away. At that point, McShea said, one of the troopers fired a shot into the car, fatally striking Allegrini, the driver. The troopers suffered minor injuries to their legs, he said.

Still, McShea declined to answer a host of other questions. He did not identify the troopers, would not say where they were in relation to the car when one of them pulled the trigger, where the bullet struck Allegrini, or how he may have managed to get out of his car after being shot. He said the other people in the car were questioned but had not been charged.

Reached by phone earlier Monday, Allegrini’s parents, Anthony and Jennifer, were reticent to speak about what happened to their son. But they said he was not one to try to harm someone. Latoison, the family attorney, said Allegrini was a 2022 graduate of Interboro High School.

“Anyone that knows him knows he would never intentionally hurt anyone,” his father said.

“He’s the most beautiful person,” his mother said.

The incident capped a night in which police said they were called to five different places for reports of drag racing or other large-scale meetups involving people and cars — several of which turned violent, with some attendees throwing objects at responding officers, assaulting passersby, or even firing guns, said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw.

She and other officials, including Mayor Jim Kenney and District Attorney Larry Krasner, criticized behavior at this weekend’s gatherings. Meetups involving cars have a long history in Philadelphia and elsewhere, with motorists tending to race or perform stunts before crowds of onlookers, sometimes with disastrous consequences.

The Police Department has assigned dozens of officers to special units tasked with monitoring or responding to such meetups, Outlaw said. But they don’t always know about every event in advance, she said, and are sometimes outnumbered responding to gatherings that may be chaotic or unsafe.

“The type of behavior exhibited at these car meets over the weekend was just outrageous, quite frankly,” Outlaw said. “Property was destroyed. Officers and civilians were assaulted. And countless, countless individuals had their lives put at risk because of the behavior that we witnessed.”

The events began around 1 a.m. in Somerton, Outlaw said, when motorists and a large crowd “took over” the intersection of Bustleton and Philmont Avenues. When police arrived, she said, some in the crowd threw bricks or other objects at police. No officers were injured, but Outlaw said videos appeared to show a pedestrian being assaulted by some in the crowd.

Investigators are trying to identify that man as well as his attackers, she said.

Not long after that, Outlaw said, officers responded to a report of drag racing nearby, on the 500 block of Byberry Road. When police came upon vehicles parked at a gas station, Outlaw said, the driver of a Dodge Charger backed into a police car, then drove away.

An hour or so after that, around 2:30 a.m. in North Philadelphia, police responded to reports of drag racing and gunshots at Broad and York Streets. Some in the crowd threw objects at responding officers, Outlaw said, damaging the windshield of a cruiser. No officers were injured.

Around 3 a.m., Outlaw said, an officer near that same intersection tried to stop a man who appeared intoxicated from driving away. The driver then began attacking the officer, Outlaw said, causing unspecified injuries before the man was arrested and charged with assault.

“This is totally unacceptable,” Outlaw said.

It was not clear Monday the degree to which the events at different locations were linked. Meetups — often referred to as “takeovers” or “sideshows” — were promoted through informal networks of muscle car aficionados on social media beforehand, and included groups in South Jersey and other suburbs. Videos posted online depicted drivers speeding from one event to another Sunday night — between North Philadelphia, the Northeast, and I-95.

Officials including McShea, of the State Police, said the city’s Office of Emergency Management had sent emails earlier Saturday night about what was happening on the streets. Still, he declined to go into detail about what authorities had planned for in advance. And Outlaw said although she believed there may have been “core people” who participated in more than one meetup, “I don’t think it was just one group only going from place to place to place.”

The events of the night culminated on I-95. Videos posted on social media depicted a wild scene, with drivers drifting or performing burnouts or doughnuts in the middle of the highway as dozens of people stood on the road and the median to watch. McShea said there were also reports of shots being fired in the area, which he said troopers were told about as they responded.

McShea did not specify where the encounter with Allegrini happened — or where it was in relation to the cars and pedestrians — but photos and videos showed Allegrini’s car beneath an underpass near Spruce Street after he was shot. State Police said Allegrini was declared dead at the scene.

Krasner said the investigation into what happened could take some time, and he and others encouraged anyone with information or videos about any of the incidents to reach out to law enforcement.

“There will come a time when we know what happened,” Krasner said, “and whatever flows from that, or does not flow from that, will be based on the truth.”