Corrections1 Staff
PHILADELPHIA — Police are questioning a person of interest in connection with the shooting of a Philadelphia corrections officer on Sunday night.
A report by NBC news stated that Lonnie Rowland, 36, was shot multiple times with a 40-caliber handgun at 10:50 p.m. on the doorstep of his home on the 2400 block of W. Elkhart Street.
His grandmother, Gertrude Rowland, was sleeping in the home when she heard gunshots. According to ABC News, Gertrude came upon the scene to find a man in a hooded sweatshirt straddling the victim. The hooded gunman then forced her into a closet, ransacked the home and then escaped.
The wounded corrections officer was taken to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced dead at at 11:07 p.m.
Police said there are no signs of forced entry. Therefore, it is thought that Lonnie may have let the gunman into the home voluntarily.
Rowland was in his prison uniform and preparing for his shift at the time he was killed, the Associated Press reported. He had been a member of the corrections department since 1998. Prison officials said he had worked at the Cambria Community Center minimum security facility for the last 18 months.