Saleem Brown, a 23-year-old Black male from Philadelphia, was killed in the early hours of Friday, November 4, 2022, in West Philadelphia. Just after midnight, police were called to the 200 block of South Saint Bernard Street for reports of gunfire. When officers arrived at about 12:13 a.m., they found a gray 2011 Ford Fusion sitting on the block with two people inside.
Brown was discovered inside the vehicle suffering from a gunshot wound.
Medical personnel arrived, but there was nothing they could do; he was pronounced dead at the scene. Police also found 25-year-old Karique Proctor inside the same car, also suffering from a gunshot wound, and he too was pronounced dead at the scene by medics.
Early reports described a violent scene centered on the vehicle. The car's engine was still running when officers arrived, with one victim in the driver's seat and the other in the front passenger seat. Police said both victims were unresponsive and had been shot in the head. Investigators also found that the vehicle had been hit by gunfire multiple times, including bullet holes in the driver's side window. Shell casings were recovered both outside and inside the car.
Investigators believed someone had fired into the vehicle, and police said there were signs that the victims may have returned fire. A semi-automatic handgun was recovered from the passenger area, reportedly found on or between the legs of the passenger-seat victim. At the time of the initial news report, the two victims had not yet been publicly identified, but Philadelphia Police later identified Brown and Proctor in the same case.
Police indicated that they planned to review private surveillance cameras in the neighborhood in hopes of identifying the shooter or shooters. No named suspect has been publicly identified in the available police and news reporting, and no arrest, charges, trial, or conviction was found in the available online sources. Philadelphia Police continue to list Brown's killing as an unsolved murder and have asked anyone with information to contact the department's tip line.
