Police: Man Threatens to Burn Down a Fishtown Soup Kitchen, Men Attacked Out Front

Police are asking for the public’s help to identify two men wanted for a violent incident that took place early Sunday morning outside a Fishtown soup kitchen.

This is the dramatic video released by police:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X51rD3fqt9E&feature=youtu.be

Police say that the attack happened at 5:09 a.m. on Sunday. Two men — one 46 years old, the other 33 — were standing in front of the Philadelphia Brotherhood Mission at 401 East Girard Avenue in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia when two other men got out of a car and approached them.

One suspect smashed the glass front door of the mission with a baseball bat and then chased the 33-year-old man, hitting him in the leg with the bat. That part of the attack is clearly visible on the surveillance video. The other suspect is accused of taking the 46-year-old victim’s cane, hitting him with it, and then lighting a bag on fire and throwing it at him.

The two suspects got back into their car, and one of them allegedly shouted out, “I am coming back to burn this place down” before fleeing east on Girard Avenue towards I-95. The car may have been a Kia, according to investigators.

Police describe the two suspects as follows: “Suspect #1: White male, 20-25 years-of-age, 5’7″, 160lbs, wearing a plaid shirt, orange baseball cap with what appeared to be a little league baseball bat on front. Suspect #2: White male, 50 years-of-age, 280lbs, whitish gray hair, gray shirt, jeans.”

The Philadelphia Brotherhood Mission has been providing services to the homeless and others since 1908 and serves three meals a day inside the Fishtown headquarters.

Anyone with information on the attack is asked to call the anonymous police tip line at 215-686-TIPS or East Detectives at 215-686-3243.

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