Police: Officers halt attack, arrest man as 2 women assaulted in North Philly

A pair of women have been hospitalized and a man has been arrested, police said, after an overnight attack happened in North Philadelphia.

According to Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small, the incident unfolded at about 3 a.m. along the 2200 block of Cleveland Street.

At that time, Small said, officers responding to a report of a stabbing in that area found a woman in her 30s bleeding heavily from stab wounds to her leg at the intersection of 18th and Dauphin streets.

This victim, officials said, was taken to a nearby hospital where she was listed in stable condition.

Small said she told officers that she had been attacked by a man who was inside a vacant home along the 2200 block of Cleveland Street.

And, Small said, she told police a friend of hers was in danger, as well.

“She was able to provide information that she was stabbed by a male who was inside, what appears to be, a vacant property in the 2200 block of Cleveland and the male was inside with this female’s other female friend who was also being assaulted,” Small said.

Upon learning this, Small said, officers entered the property and found the man the victim described as he was in the midst of attacking a second woman.

“The 22nd district police did a great job,” said Small. “They responded immediately. When they were informed of the sexual assault on Cleveland Street, they went right inside and they were able to apprehend that male who was assaulting that second female.”

Police were able to interrupt the attack and the woman was found bleeding from injuries to her head, Small said.

Small said the man was taken into custody and both he and the second victim were transported to a nearby hospital for injuries, but Small did not immediately know their conditions or severity of their injuries.

Investigators believe the man stabbed the first victim and struck the second woman in the head with a crowbar.

At the scene, Small said, officers recovered a knife and a crowbar and investigators are working to determine if they were used in the attack.

“There is some blood,” Small noted.

He said that, as investigators work to determine what happened in this incident, police believe the women were both physically and likely sexually assaulted.

But, an investigation remains ongoing and the man, who police believe to be in his 30s or 40s, is being held by police as a prisoner as they work to determine charges, Small said.

This is a breaking news story. It will be updated as new information becomes available.