Man arrested in ambush shooting of Philadelphia Parking Authority employee

Authorities have apprehended a 39-year-old man wanted for the ambush shooting last month of an on-duty Philadelphia Parking Authority enforcement officer. The alleged shooter is also suspected in a similar shooting of a gas-station worker in the Bronx, New York, police said.

Termaine Saulsbury was arrested Wednesday evening in an abandoned house on the 5500 block of Girard Avenue in West Philadelphia by a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force, Philadelphia police said.

On Nov. 25 around 3:50 p.m., according to police, Saulsbury shot Timothy McKenzie at close range on the 4500 block of Frankford Avenue. Surveillance video shows a man walk up behind McKenzie, who was checking vehicles and issuing parking tickets, and fire a handgun. McKenzie, who was critically wounded, has since been released from the hospital.

Rich Lazer, executive director of the Philadelphia Parking Authority, said in an emailed statement Wednesday evening:

“I want to thank and commend the Philadelphia Police Department, U.S. [Marshals] and other law enforcement agencies for their excellent investigative work in apprehending a suspect so quickly. As difficult as the job is for our enforcement officers, their safety continues to be our top priority. Knowing a suspect is now in police custody, is a relief for our whole workforce and our families.

“While our PEO [parking enforcement officer] Tim McKenzie continues to recover and improve, it is now time to let justice take its course.”

Soon after McKenzie’s shooting, police in New York City subsequently contacted Philadelphia police about a similar shooting that occurred Nov. 22. In a video released by New York police, a man approaches a locked door at a gas-station convenience store and appears to ask someone inside to open it. When the 49-year-old victim opens the door, the suspect raises his gun and fires twice. The victim was hit once in the left side of the head.

The New York Daily News reported earlier this month that the Bronx gas-station attendant, 59-year-old Zulfiqar Alvi, was still in critical condition with a bullet lodged in his head.

Saulsbury’s arrest came just hours after a Philadelphia Water Department worker was wounded in a double shooting in the city’s Holmesburg section, police said.

Just before 12:45 p.m. Wednesday on the 4600 block of Vista Street, the Water Department employee, a 25-year-old man, and another man were struck by gunfire, police said.

The Water Department worker drove himself and the second victim, a 31-year-old man, to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital. The Water Department worker, who was shot in the leg, was listed in stable condition. The second victim, who was shot in the chest, was reported in critical condition.