Rachel King.Photo: Facebook
A Pennsylvania mother who was a beloved teacher was killed in front of her young son in what authorities are calling a “targeted murder” outside a Dunkin' Donuts in the Philadelphia suburbs.
On April 11, at about 7:40 a.m., gunfire broke out as Rachel King, 35, waited in line in the store’s drive-thru lane at the Melrose Shopping Center in Cheltenham, according to apress releasefrom the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.
Officers who responded to the scene found the Elkins Park woman fatally shot in the driver’s seat of a black Ford Edge, which had ended up on a parking island near the drive-thru lane.
King was behind the wheel of her SUV, traveling westbound on Cheltenham Avenue, when she turned into the shopping center and pulled into a line of traffic in the Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru lane, according to the D.A.’s office.
Then, a light-colored sedan, possibly a Ford or a Mercury, was seen driving directly behind King’s vehicle and then parking a short distance away from the drive-thru lane.
“A Black male exited the sedan and walked up to the driver’s side of King’s vehicle, where he fired numerous shots through the driver’s side window, before fleeing back to his vehicle and leaving the scene, driving eastbound on Cheltenham Avenue,” the release states.
An autopsy determined King’s cause of death was multiple gunshots and the manner of death was homicide.
“This appears to be a targeted murder of a mother,” District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said in the release, adding that the suspect “did not attempt to open the victim’s vehicle door, nor did he appear to communicate with her prior to shooting her numerous times through her driver’s side window.”
According to aGoFundMe pagelaunched to help King’s family with funeral expenses, she had worked as a teacher with Grover Cleveland Elementary School for more than a decade.
“Her loss has left a deep void in the lives of her family, friends, colleagues and students,” the fundraiser’s description reads.
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Mastery Charter Schools provided the following statement toFox29, confirming King’s tragic death:
The shooter is described as having a thin build and was wearing light-colored pants and a dark-colored, hooded sweatshirt with the hood up covering his head, authorities said.
Anyone with information on the vehicle involved in this killing or the suspect is asked to contact the Cheltenham Township Police Department at 215-885-1600 (ext. 400) or Montgomery County Detectives at 610-226-5553. Tips can also be called into the Montco Detective Tip Line at 610-278-DOIT (3648).
source: people.com
