Police are reviewing surveillance footage as they seek two gunmen and a motive in the killing of Khalil Hoskins.
PHILADELPHIA — Investigators are still trying to identify two gunmen who police say ambushed 19-year-old Khalil Hoskins as he approached an Uber in Philadelphia’s Overbrook neighborhood, an attack that sent dozens of rounds through the residential block before the shooters fled.
The Sept. 23 killing remains under investigation, with no arrests publicly announced in the latest reports. Police have said Hoskins had just left a friend’s home and was preparing to get into the rideshare near Wynnewood Road and Lansdowne Avenue at about 2:41 a.m. when two men approached and opened fire. Authorities have not released a motive or a detailed description of the shooters.
Hoskins was struck multiple times and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at about 3:25 a.m., according to police accounts reported by NBC10. Investigators recovered dozens of spent shell casings from the scene, underscoring the volume of gunfire that erupted along the block.
The Uber driver was already at the pickup location when the shooting began. Police said Hoskins had not yet made it into the car. The driver accelerated away as bullets struck the vehicle and later stopped near 52nd Street and Lancaster Avenue, where he flagged down police and reported what had happened. He was not physically injured.
The driver later told FOX 29 that his vehicle was struck in several areas during his escape. He said gunfire damaged the car and that police later took it as evidence. His account also indicated that Hoskins’ phone ended up inside the vehicle, still connected to a person on the other end of a call.
One unresolved piece of evidence is a backpack police found near Hoskins. Chief Inspector Scott Small said investigators recovered a semiautomatic rifle from the backpack but did not know whether it belonged to Hoskins. Police have not publicly said the weapon was fired during the attack or established what connection, if any, it had to the shooting.
Investigators have said they believe Hoskins was targeted rather than struck by random gunfire. That conclusion describes the apparent nature of the attack but does not establish why he was targeted. Police had not publicly identified a motive in the latest reports, and no information had been released establishing a relationship between Hoskins and the gunmen.
Authorities are looking to surveillance cameras in the area for evidence. Small said cameras were positioned along the block, giving detectives potential footage of the moments before or after the shooting. Police have not publicly disclosed what investigators have recovered from those recordings or whether they have produced usable images of the attackers.
The shooting also left physical evidence spread across the neighborhood. Police and news reports described numerous shell casings and damage to several vehicles, including the Uber. Residents interviewed after the shooting said the sustained gunfire awakened them during the night and left the normally quiet block shaken.
The latest accounts leave several central questions unanswered: who carried out the shooting, what prompted the attack and whether the rifle found near Hoskins had any connection to the circumstances surrounding his death. Detectives were continuing to examine evidence and surveillance footage as the homicide investigation remained open.
Author note: Last updated September 30, 2026.