An off-duty Philadelphia police officer opened fire on suspected car thieves near S. 70th Street and Waxming Place in the Eastwick section of Southwest Philadelphia, firing at least five shots after suspects tried and failed to steal his Dodge Charger. The officer was not injured, and the suspects got away in what investigators believe was a stolen red Lexus ES 350.
According to 6abc Philadelphia, the suspects broke into the Dodge Charger belonging to the off-duty officer and attempted to start it before pushing the car around the block when that failed. It remains unclear how the officer became aware his vehicle was being targeted, per the outlet's sourcing. The Philadelphia Police Department is investigating the incident, and officials have not said where the Charger was originally stolen from, if at all, before Monday's confrontation.
Crime scene investigators taped off the area at S. 70th Street and Waxming Place near Lindbergh Avenue following the shooting, and a Dodge Durango also belonging to the off-duty officer was being held at the scene as part of the investigation, the station's report notes. Officials believe the suspects ultimately fled in the red Lexus ES 350, which had reportedly been reported stolen before the getaway.
How Philadelphia Reviews Officer-Involved Shootings
Any time a Philadelphia police officer discharges a firearm, whether on or off duty, the incident automatically triggers two parallel investigations — the Officer Involved Shooting Investigation Unit examines potential criminal violations, while the Internal Affairs Division reviews adherence to department policy, with findings ultimately going to the Use of Force Review Board, according to the City of Philadelphia. The Citizen Police Oversight Commission also reviews these cases as a form of civilian oversight.
Department policy will likely shape how investigators evaluate the Eastwick shooting. Philadelphia Police Department Directive 10.1 bars officers from firing a weapon solely to defend property, permitting deadly force only when an officer reasonably believes there is an immediate threat of serious bodily injury or death, per Campaign Zero's review of the directive. The same directive also explicitly bars officers from firing at a moving vehicle unless its occupants are threatening the officer or the public with deadly force by some means other than the vehicle itself, which could become relevant if the suspects were already fleeing when shots were fired.
Separately, Directive 4.1 requires that first-responding supervisors at any officer-involved shooting immediately secure the officer's firearm, log the ammunition remaining in the magazine, and arrange forensic DNA swabbing of the weapon before it is transported to Internal Affairs, per Philadelphia Police Department procedures.
A Familiar Pattern in Southwest Philadelphia
Monday's confrontation echoes a case from February, when an off-duty Philadelphia sheriff's deputy and a family member shot a 17-year-old suspect attempting to break into a Honda Accord on the 7300 block of Bunting Place, also in Southwest Philadelphia. Police recovered car theft tools, including key fobs and screwdrivers, at that scene, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Eastwick has also seen car theft turn deadly this year. In July, police recovered a stolen Dodge Charger Hellcat in the neighborhood that had been used in a fatal hit-and-run on Elmwood Avenue, just an hour after it was stolen in Northwest Philadelphia, the Inquirer reported. Eastwick, patrolled by the 12th Police District, is an isolated residential area near Philadelphia International Airport bordered by major roads including Lindbergh Boulevard and Interstate 95, according to background compiled on the neighborhood, a layout that can make for quick getaways.
High-performance Dodge vehicles in particular have become frequent targets across the region. Regional police departments issued public warnings in May over thefts of muscle cars like Dodge Chargers, noting that thieves often use electronic signal relay devices to clone key fobs and steal a vehicle in under a minute, according to FOX 29 Philadelphia.
Auto Theft Trends Heading Into the Incident
The Eastwick shooting comes as Philadelphia's overall auto theft numbers have started to improve. Philadelphia Police Department crime statistics from this month show that citywide motor vehicle thefts fell 11.24% year-to-date compared with the same period last year, dropping from 9,714 to 8,622 reported incidents.
Still, the longer trend has been less encouraging. A January report from the Philadelphia City Controller found that auto theft was the only major non-violent property crime category to rise from 2024 to 2025, climbing from 15,833 to 15,989 incidents even as overall property crime in the city fell 6.5%. That persistence, even amid this year's citywide decline, helps explain why armed confrontations between officers and suspected car thieves keep surfacing in neighborhoods like Eastwick.
