by Alex Lloyd Gross
Phillis Fugah, 25, of Upper Darby, just got a new home in the federal prison system after being sentenced to 10 years plus one day, for her crime spree of August 29. 2024. It was on that date, authorities said that Fugah and a male accomplice approached a Honda Pilot parked on the 7100 block of West Chester Pike, where a man sat in the vehicle with his two young children while waiting for his wife. The accomplice opened the passenger-side door but fled the scene.
Fugah then opened the driver’s side door, got behind the wheel, and pointed a gun at the victim while demanding money. The victim’s five-year-old son exited the vehicle through the front passenger door and ran to the sidewalk. The victim exited the rear driver’s side door and attempted to stop the defendant, telling her that his infant child remained inside the vehicle.
Fugah did not care. Instead, she raised her hand and fired a single gunshot, when the male victim tried to stop her from taking his vehicle with infant still in the car. The bullet partially shattering the driver’s-side window and striking the victim’s baseball cap, narrowly missing his head. A fragment of the bullet also struck the window of an occupied SEPTA bus across the street, passing over the heads of several passengers.
Fugah then abandoned the car a short distance away. The infant was found in the car, unharmed.