An aerial view of the Dunkin' drive-thru scene where Rachel King was shot and killed. (Fox 29/screengrab)
A Pennsylvania teacher was shot and killed on Tuesday morning in the Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru while her 11-year-old son was in the back seat, prosecutors announced.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said the Cheltenham Township slaying of 35-year-old Rachel King "appeared to be a targeted murder of a mother" committed by a suspect who walked up to the victim's SUV and opened fire multiple times at the Melrose Shopping Center, a matter of miles away from downtown Philadelphia.
"At 7:39 a.m., Tuesday, April 11, 2023, Cheltenham Township Police were dispatched to the Melrose Shopping Center for the report of a shooting. On arrival, police found a female victim in the driver's seat of a black Ford Edge, dead from multiple gunshot wounds. The vehicle had come to a rest on a parking island near the Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru lane," prosecutors said in a press release. "King's 11-year-old son was seated in the rear of the vehicle and was not injured."
Rachel King pictured in a Facebook photo during a Fox 29 report on her death.
According to the DA's office, a forensic pathologist ruled that King was shot multiple times and was the victim of homicide.
Prosecutors said that King was followed by a Black male driving a silver sedan. Authorities said that a suspect with a "thin build" was "wearing light-colored pants and a dark-colored, hooded sweatshirt with the hood up covering his head."
Two images of the suspect vehicle were shared in an effort to track down the perpetrator.
Rachel King murder suspect's vehicle (Montgomery County DA)
"Through multiple interviews and surveillance videos from nearby businesses, detectives determined that the victim was driving her Ford Edge, 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," the DA's office said. "A light-colored sedan, possibly a Ford or Mercury, was seen driving directly behind King's vehicle and then parking a short distance away from the drive-thru lane."
"The Black male 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," DA Steele said in a statement. "Anyone with information about this vehicle or the driver is asked to call police and help us find whoever committed this heinous murder."
The DA encouraged people with knowledge of the suspect or the vehicle to call Montgomery County detectives at (610) 226-5553 or Cheltenham Township Police Department at (215) 885-1600 (ext. 400).
Fox 29 reported that Rachel King had taught for a decade at Grover Cleveland Elementary Schools, citing the following statement from Mastery Charter Schools:
This morning, a teacher from mastery's Grover Cleveland Elementary was the victim of a fatal shooting in Philadelphia. We send our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones. We are devastated by the loss of an extraordinary teacher, who spent the last 10 years working with our students and their families.
Watch Fox 29's report on the shooting here:
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