Germantown man shot
and carjacked in Chestnut Hill

by MICHAEL J. MISHAK

A Wachovia Bank courier was shot and carjacked on November 20 on Cresheim Valley Drive near Germantown Avenue by two men who may have expected more than just 20 bags of cancelled checks, police said.

James Baggs, 45, was en route to the Wachovia Bank at Fourth and Market streets to drop off the bundle of cancelled checks when one of two assailants approached the driver's-side window of his 1993 Honda Civic and opened fire, shooting him in the left shoulder shortly after 3 p.m., police said.

Believing Baggs was carrying cash, the attackers may have followed him from the Fort Washington bank where he originally picked up the checks, police said.

Dumping the victim on the road, one of the men drove Baggs' car to the 100 block of East Moreland Avenue and abandoned it. Police recovered the car and fingerprinted it.

Afternoon traffic was snarled as police shut down the busy intersection to secure the crime scene. Baggs' clothes were piled atop shattered glass in the eastbound lane of Cresheim Valley Drive.

Mark Yashinsky, an employee at a nearby flower stand, the Trolley Stop Florist, heard the shot. "I thought it was a car backfiring," Yashinsky said, but knew something more had happened when he saw the Honda Civic "race" up Germantown Avenue. "It's a crazy world," he said.

Baggs was listed in stable condition at Albert Einstein Medical Center at press time Monday afternoon. "He's a fortunate guy," said Detective Fernando Garcia of Baggs who was shot with a .50 caliber handgun, typically used by military personnel, he said. Police recovered the shell casing.

Despite initial reports of the assailants driving a dark-blue Volvo, police believe the men may have been riding in a green minivan. Police are currently looking at one suspect, Garcia said. Witnesses described the shooter as a black male, about 30 years old, wearing a black knit cap, blue jeans and a black down-filled jacket, police said. No arrests have been made. Information can be directed to Northwest Detectives at 215-686-3353 or 3354.