Woman killed in shooting rampage was daughter of immigrants

PHILADELPHIA – Authorities have identified the woman killed during a shooting rampage that also wounded two police officers as the 25-year-old daughter of Ethiopian immigrants.

Sara Salih was shot seven times while sitting in a vehicle Friday night with a 36-year-old man, who was shot in the arm and chest. Moments before, police say, suspect Nicholas Glenn had fired about 18 shots at veteran police Sgt. Sylvia Young as she sat in her patrol cruiser on a West Philadelphia street corner. He then randomly fired five shots at two bar employees, a 42-year-old man and 41-year-old woman, as he ran down the street.

Glenn later died in a shootout with responding officers.

Beyan Salih, Sara’s father, heard the gunshots from the family’s apartment during the Friday overnight attack but didn’t know his daughter had been shot until after he got home from work Saturday afternoon, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported (http://bit.ly/2cprBbj ). That’s when he was told she had died.

“I didn’t know,” he said, sobbing on his front porch. “How could she be gone? How could this happen?”

Sara’s sister, Fatima Salih, said Sara was a newborn when the family immigrated to Philadelphia in 1992 and that she had attended school in southwest Philadelphia. Fatima Salih described Sara as “outgoing and outspoken,” with dreams of becoming a paralegal.

“She always loved dreaming about the future,” Fatima Salih said.

Authorities say the 25-year-old Glenn apparently targeted Salih and the man she was with at random.

Glenn also shot one of the responding officers, University of Pennsylvania police officer Ed Miller. Miller was treated for gunshot wounds to his hip and ankle and was released from the hospital Sunday. Four Philadelphia Eagles players visited before his release.

Young was shot in her shoulder, arm and chest and remains hospitalized in stable condition. Police say all the injured are expected to survive.

Investigators say Glenn had a note that expressed hatred for law enforcement and a probation officer at the time of the attack.

He fired at least 51 shots during the rampage and was armed with more ammunition, authorities said.

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Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.inquirer.com

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