A man who allegedly was trying to break into houses and may have been armed with a knife was fatally shot by police Friday afternoon during a physical confrontation in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia, police said.
Just before 2:30 p.m., police received a 911 call reporting that a man on the 4100 block of Tyson Avenue was trying to enter houses, Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore said.
Officers responding to the call were flagged down by someone who pointed out the man on the 7000 block of Frankford Avenue, Vanore said.
The officers attempted to stop the man but he allegedly fled with the police in pursuit, Vanore said.
The chase ended in front of a store, where the man allegedly got into a physical confrontation with the officers before the video ends.
“At some point during that confrontation, both officers discharged a firearm,” Vanore said.
Medics pronounced the man dead at the scene. His identity was not released.
In a 12-second video obtained by The Inquirer, recorded by someone inside a car parked just feet away from the deadly shooting, one of the officers and the unidentified man can be seen struggling with each other.
The officer appears to be trying to hold the man’s hands or arms, then falls to the ground as the man breaks free.
A second officer then appears in the video. As the man steps away from that officer and into an open area of the building, the second officer fires multiple shots and the man falls.
The first officer is seen falling backward away from the man and a second gun can be heard firing before the video ends.
Vanore said the officers had their body cameras activated, and police were checking video from nearby cameras.
“We know there’s a knife on location here, right by the individual that’s shot,” Vanore said.
Under department policy, the shooting is under internal investigation and the officers who fired their weapons will be reassigned to administrative duty while the investigation is ongoing.
People throughout the Philadelphia region, hampered by cuts to federal food aid and soaring prices, are “facing a dangerous double whammy causing a skyrocketing hunger crisis,” said Joel Berg, a national hunger fighter, speaking in Northeast Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Berg, CEO of the New York-based nonprofit Hunger Free America, was visiting Feast of Justice, one of the largest food pantries in the city with “probably the most diverse food pantry clientele in the nation,” he said. That is proof, according to Berg, that food insecurity can affect anyone, from any background.
Feast of Justice, he added, “is the food affordability issue in the flesh.”
Especially critical of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025, Berg noted that it included more than $1.1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Roughly 4 million Americans are expected to lose SNAP benefits in 2026 under the law. Many of them do not meet work or age requirements newly added to the anti-hunger program. The reductions in SNAP and Medicaid benefits helped pay for tax cuts ordered by Trump.
Alahallak Abdelmenim and his children Asil (left), 6, and Hasan (right), 8, load groceries into their shopping cart at the Feast of Justice Food Pantry Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
In Pennsylvania, around 144,000 SNAP recipients could see benefits cut this year — an estimated 45,000 in Philadelphia and 12,000 in its collar counties, according to Pennsylvania Department of Human Services estimates. In New Jersey, around 50,000 individuals could lose SNAP benefits, New Jersey Department of Human Services figures show.
It’s not “rocket science,” said Berg, who used a pallet of canned beans and apple sauce as a lectern as he addressed a small crowd at the pantry. “When there’s a drought and you take away water, the drought’s going to get worse. When there’s a hunger crisis, and you take away food, the hunger crisis is going to get worse, especially after you throw in inflation,” he added.
In response, Trump spokesperson Anna Kelly said Tuesday that Trump is “strengthening” SNAP to sustain it into the future. Changes to SNAP “crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse,” she said. Kelly added that Trump is “uplifting every American’s financial situation by passing the largest tax cut in history — which every congressional Democrat opposed — and bringing historic numbers of jobs and investments into our country.”
Pastor Tricia Neale, executive director of Feast of Justice, said Tuesday that since the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, an additional 1,850 families in Northeast Philadelphia have turned to the pantry for help. Overall within the last five years, she said, the number of households the pantry supports has grown from 2,750 to 6,425, a more than 200% increase.
Pastor Tricia Neale, executive director at Feast of Justice, displays a chart showing the decline in food sourcing as she speaks at a press conference at the food pantry Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The pantry has been forced to absorb a 35% decline in donated food it receives, in part because of cuts to federal and state food programs that have been so vital, she added.
Even with diminished supplies, Feast of Justice is an essential institution, according to Angie Bryant, 55, of Tacony, a client. Formerly a phlebotomist who can no longer work, Bryant said she recently lost her SNAP benefits because new age restrictions exclude her participation.
“In the body, hunger is hurtful,” she said. “Without this place, I don’t know how I could make it.”
Food banks such as Philabundance and Share Food Program do their best to provide Feast of Justice whatever food they can, Neale emphasized.
Volunteer Daniel Khan (center) restocks the shelves as clients load groceries into their shopping carts at the Feast of Justice Food Pantry Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
If SNAP is the safety net, “we’re the safety net of the safety net,” said Loree Jones Brown, CEO of Philabundance, who joined Berg and Neale at Feast of Justice on Tuesday. “But we can’t make up for the cuts.”
She added that “this is a crucial time for food banks, legislators, and community organizations to stand together for our neighbors and against hunger.”
That Feast of Justice does its best to beat back hunger is widely appreciated in the community, said client Anthony Morales, 27, of Mayfair. Laid off from a warehouse job, he said he is responsible for feeding his 7-year-old daughter and his partner, and he needs the pantry’s support.
“When you fall,” he said, “this place lifts you up. You have a lot of fear and anxiety without enough food. It can give you hope and confidence that tomorrow could be better.”
A Mayfair man accused of trying to set fire to a Northeast Philadelphia mosque is now also facing a federal civil rights charge, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Vincent Lang was arrested last month and charged with a federal arson-related offense for allegedly throwing an incendiary device into the Northeast Philadelphia Islamic Center on July 5.
On Thursday, prosecutors announced that they’d also moved to indict Lang on a count of damaging religious property, something U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said “demonstrates our resolve to protect our core constitutional liberty of religion.”
Lang, 60, has been in federal custody since he was arrested for the arson offense, which carries a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence if he’s convicted.
The new charge means Lang faces a maximum possible prison sentence of 40 years, prosecutors said.
His federal defender declined to comment Friday.
Image from security video of fire started by an incendiary device on July 5 at the Northeast Philadelphia Islamic Center.U.S. Attorney's Office
Lang is accused of attacking the mosque, on the 1400 block of Tyson Avenue, on July 5 around 2 a.m. The building was unoccupied at the time and no injuries were reported, but its front porch sustained significant damage.
Two days after the attack, authorities received a tip that Lang was involved. Investigators who surveilled his house found his black SUV with handwritten messages and stickers saying things like “White Pride” “F- Islam,” and “Federal Terrorist Hunting License,” prosecutors said.
On social media, investigators also found what they believed to be accounts linked to Lang that had expressed anti-Islamic views as well as comments on the arson investigation, prosecutors said. One of the posts about the investigation said: “How can it be a hate crime they might have done it out of love,” prosecutors said.
The local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, applauded what it called a thorough and meaningful investigation into the attack.
“This indictment sends an important message that attacks targeting houses of worship because of their faith are not ordinary crimes, they are assaults on the fundamental civil rights and religious freedom of entire communities,” said Dr. Ahmet Tekelioglu, executive director of CAIR-Philadelphia.
