Philadelphia police are seeking to identify a man they say viciously attacked three women who worked at a West Oak Lane beauty salon on Monday afternoon, shooting and killing one and sexually assaulting and pistol-whipping the others.
Shortly before 2 p.m. Monday, Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said, a man armed with a gun walked into ABBA Blessed Beauty Salon, on the 6300 block of Stenton Avenue, and took three female employees into the back of the business.
The suspect shot a 32-year-old woman in the head, killing her, he said. He then pistol-whipped two other women, ages 33 and 44, and sexually assaulted at least one of them before fleeing the salon, he said.
Vanore called the incident horrific and said it was not immediately clear what motivated the attack. Homicide detectives recovered video and have “significant direction” on a suspect, he said, and hope to release images of the gunman to the public Tuesday afternoon.
The name of the woman who was killed has not yet been released.
ABBA salon sits among a strip of businesses at a busy intersection near Stenton Avenue and Washington Lane. A woman who manages the business’ social media page, in a video shared on Facebook Monday night, called the situation painful and difficult.
Speaking in Spanish, she asked the community to pray for the women who were attacked, and said the business would share more information after speaking with police and the families of the victims.
Even as shootings and homicides have declined to their lowest levels in more than half a century, reports of sexual assaults and rapes are one of few crime categories on the rise, though they still remain below pre-pandemic levels, city data show.
And while the clearance rate among homicides has improved greatly in recent years and reached about 80% last year, the solve rate for sexual assaults in 2025 was just 21%, according to the police department.
Police are asking anyone with information on Monday’s attack to call the homicide unit at 215-686-3334, or the police department’s secure tip line at 215-686-8477. Tips can also be submitted online.