Bullets fired into mourners; 1 killed, 1 seriously hurt

Incident might be tied to last week’s Clifton Heights slaying

Upper Darby Township police responded Monday afternoon about 5:20 to a shooting in the 600 block of Long Lane that Police Superintendent Timothy M. Bernhardt said later Monday might be linked to last week’s Clifton Heights slaying.

Bernhardt said a vehicle pulled up in the block as a luncheon for friends and family members for the Clifton Heights victim James Ford was ending and those in attendance were coming outside. At least one gunman opened fire into the building, a storefront without a business inside.

One person was killed in the gunfire, one person was seriously injured and there were two graze wounds, Bernhardt said.

As the incident unfolded, police radio traffic showed officers found one dead with at least two others heading to hospitals in private vehicles.

Police needed extra units for crowd control in the block. The crowd being those who were at the luncheon.

A few minutes later Delaware County communications told township police that a Philadelphia officer was flagged down by a car containing a gunshot victim, and police took that victim to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, according to radio traffic.

At least one other gunshot victim walked into Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital and was transferred to Presby, according to radio traffic.

In the Clifton Heights case, the alleged gunman, Birchett L. King, turned himself in Monday.

Bernhardt said his officers would be working with borough police on the Monday violence.

Further details about the dead and injured were not yet available.