Last Updated on November 30, 2022
Video has emerged of a disturbing North Philadelphia incident in which a man appears to throw a Molotov cocktail through the window of a row home housing Temple University students. Not much is known about the incident, which took place last month. Safety has become a massive concern among Temple students and alumni as Philadelphia’s crime epidemic continues to rage.
Security camera footage shows a man exiting an adjacent row home before breaking a front window of the student housing unit. The man then tosses what appears to be a Molotov cocktail into the building before fleeing. Fire alarms could be heard about 15 seconds later.
A clearer picture of the incident was captured by a nearby ring camera. In that video, the man can be seen tossing a rock through the window before igniting the firebomb. The timestamp on the ring video indicates that the incident took place on November 15.
Here’s another video of the Temple students home being firebombed @PhillyCrimeUpd pic.twitter.com/fr4Gj6YBNW
— Sgt. Mark Fu (Retired) (@MarkFusetti) November 30, 2022
Not much is known about the incident as of this time, though retired Philadelphia Police Officer Mark Fusetti reported that the man was a squatter.
According to Philly Crime Update, the incident took place after a high-profile series of home invasions that made Temple University safety a major point of concern in the city. At least 11 Temple students were robbed at gunpoint in a series of North Philadelphia robberies earlier this month. Police believe the robberies are part of a connected and coordinated effort to target Temple off-campus housing.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner ordered one of the men charged in the home invasions held on $6 million bail, a notable pivot from his office’s “bail reform” policies that have eliminated cash bail for a number of crimes.
But safety remains a top concern for Temple University students and parents, who say the University is not doing enough to notify students of the elevated danger or taking appropriate action. Keep Us Safe TU — a group committed to addressing crime affecting Temple students — has gained more than 1,500 followers on Instagram.
The group expressed outrage and concern that the firebombing incident took place after the home invasions. “How did we not hear about this?” Keep us Safe TU asked in a post tagging Temple University and its president, Jason Wingard. “This was the Tuesday before break, AFTER the home invasions.”
Keep us Safe TU further reported that the incident took place at the corner of Norris and Cleveland St.
This is a developing story.