$6K reward offered in SEPTA conductor’s shooting

SEPTA and the Citizens Crime Commission are offering a $6,000 reward for information that leads to arrests and convictions of two men suspected in the shooting of a Regional Rail conductor during an attempted robbery Friday afternoon at a station in West Mount Airy.

“Those two men are SEPTA’s most wanted people,” SEPTA Transit Police Chief Thomas J. Nestel III said at a news conference Monday. “We want to find them.”

SEPTA is putting up $5,000 and the commission is adding $1,000.

“Somebody out there had to see something,” said John Apeldorn, commission president. “We don’t want to see anyone else hurt. Let’s get them off the street.”

The conductor, who has 19 years of service, has not been publicly identified. He was shot around 3:25 p.m. on a platform at the Carpenter station on the Chestnut Hill West Line.

Police said the conductor had just stepped off the train when he was approached by two young men wearing gray hoodies.

One of the men demanded money. The conductor then pushed the second man and tried to jump back on the train, police said. As he moved toward the train car, he was shot in a hip by the first man. Both men fled.

A witness called 911 and provided first aid to the conductor.

The conductor was released from the hospital over the weekend, and is expected to make a full recovery, Nestel said.

Nestel added that he’s not planning any security changes in response to the shooting.

“This is an anomaly,” he said. “That’s why it is so important to us to get these two people off the street.”

Nestel said that as SEPTA transitions into its Key program, which includes a universal pass accessible across every transit line, the amount of money conductors carry has been significantly reduced.

“This is not a high-dollar heist,” Nestel said. “Trying to rob one of our employees is not a good idea for a lot of reasons.”

Anyone with information is asked to call 215-546-TIPS (8477).