Man fatally shot outside Philadelphia prison shortly after his release

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia man was fatally shot less than an hour after he was released from jail, authorities said Thursday.

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Rodney Hargrove, 20, was shot about 47 minutes after being freed on bail from Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Hargrove was waiting for relatives to pick him from the jail when he was chased back onto the prison grounds and shot, WTXF reported.

Prisons Commissioner Blanche Carney called the crime a “horrific incident,” according to the Inquirer.

Hargrove was arrested March 10 and charged with receiving stolen property, carrying a firearm without a license, fleeing police and related crimes, the newspaper reported.

The District Attorney’s Office asked that Hargrove be held on $999,999 bail, while his public defender asked for $200,000, according to court records. Arraignment Court Magistrate Marilyn Rigmaiden-DeLeon set his bail at $200,000, records show.

On Thursday, Hargrove was driven to a bus stop by corrections officers after his release, which is customary, prisons spokesperson Shawn Hawes said. At the bus stop, a dark-colored vehicle began pursuing Hargrove, and he ran back to the prison grounds where he was fatally shot by someone in the car, according to the Inquirer.

At least 10 shell casings were found near Hargrove’s body around 2 a.m. Thursday, according to police.

“So it appears the shooter or shooters were in very close proximity to this 20-year-old victim,” Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small told KYW.

Prison guards did not see the shooting, and no cameras are pointed where the gunfire occurred, Small told WTXF.

“They did not see the shooting take place,” Small said. “They saw what appeared to be a dark color vehicle speeding from the grounds.”

Carney said the vehicle that was pursuing Hargrove entered the prison grounds through the raised arm of a security gate, the Inquirer reported.

The arm is raised manually and there was a guard on duty, KYW reported.

“It’s raised by the correctional officer on that post,” Carney told reporters. “For whatever reason, the officer raised it and the vehicle was able to go through that raised arm.”

Authorities are reviewing video footage to determine if the shooting was filmed, Carney added.

Cox Media Group