N. Liberties slaying victim ID'd

Updated 10:30 a.m. Monday

A 26-year-old woman was killed Sunday night when a gunman shot her in front of her mother while stealing her purse in Northern Liberties, police said.

Police identified the victim on Monday as Amber Long, of the 1700 block of West Ritner Street in South Philadelphia.

She was shot once in the chest around 10:25 p.m., while walking with her mother along Front Street, near Poplar.

Police Inspector Scott Small said the pair was approached by two men in a dark car, possibly a Chevrolet Impala.

One of the men, who was wearing all dark clothing, then shot her in the chest while taking her purse, Small said. The woman and her mother were walking from the El when they were attacked.

The men then drove north on Front Street, Small said.

Responding to a 911 call, 26th District patrol officers rushed Lomg to Hahnemann University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 11:15 p.m.

Tucked on the east side of Interstate 95, new townhouses and condos are being built on the stretch of Front Street where the woman was shot, but the area is often quiet and desolate at night. The women were attacked near a lot across the street from a line of new townhouses.

Police were stretching crime scene tape near a spot where a set of keys lay on the sidewalk.

After midnight, police remained on the scene collecting footage from security cameras from an apartment complex.