Editor’s Note: Police have said that they have received many useful tips on this case (see the update below). This is not an easy case for us to report for a couple of reasons. First, it’s a sexual assault and that requires the utmost sensitivity to cultivate a constructive conversation that does not blame the victim. Second, the perpetrator is still at large and many neighbors are trying to help find him, which is important in a functional and vital community. But we also must be sensitive to jumping to conclusions about our neighbors who are thin, young African American males. If we’re not, we risk that functional and vital community that everyone wants.

UPDATE (10/16/13, 9:00 a.m.): Police are still searching for the suspect. “The public is really stepping up and sending us tips, videos and names. Helping a lot,” Detective Joe Murray told West Philly Local.

A woman was sexually assaulted and robbed at gunpoint at 11:45 a.m. on Monday near 50th and Hazel. The 29-year-old was the latest victim in a string of as many as a half-dozen gunpoint robberies in that area in the last two weeks.

The victim told West Philly Local that she was approached by an African American male, 18-22 years old, wearing a red t-shirt. According to police, she was robbed of cash and then taken to a nearby alley and sexually assaulted.

“(I) didn’t even think at 11:45 in the morning on Hazel that this would happen,” the victim said.

Police confirmed the uptick in armed robberies in the vicinity in recent days. The victim said her friend was approached last night by a man fitting the same description only wearing a red hooded sweatshirt with white drawstrings near 50th and Pentridge. The man said he was from Detroit and asked for directions. The person immediately called police and the man fled. Two other robberies were reported last night and the general description of the perpetrator is similar.

Detective Joe Murray said the descriptions are similar, but couldn’t confirm that the robber was the same person that attacked the woman on Monday morning. Police are investigating the case and we’ll post an update when we have more information.

Here’s a more detailed description of the perpetrator provided by the victim:

African American male, aged 18-22, 5’8, very skinny, no facial hair, short haircut, no distinguishable scars/tattoos, was wearing a red t-shirt.

UPDATE (4:30 p.m.): Police are looking for the driver of a vehicle that struck a 22-year-old woman near 38th and Spruce Streets, leaving the victim seriously injured. The woman was riding her bike east on Spruce Street when she suddenly fell. While she was attempting to stand up, she was struck by a car going west on Spruce Street, according to police. The woman sustained severe head injuries and was taken to the hospital, where she is listed in critical condition.

Here’s the description of the vehicle provided by police:

Dark colored four (4) door sedan with a light colored plate on the front possibly out of state or a vanity plate. Vehicle may have possible damage to the left front fender and or bumper.

The police also released surveillance video of the incident where you can see the woman riding her bike on Spruce Street and then being struck by a dark-colored vehicle:

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact police. You can submit a tip via telephone (dial 215.686.TIPS (8477)) or text a tip to PPD TIP or 773847.

EARLIER: A young woman riding her bike was struck by a car Thursday evening on Spruce Street between 38th and 39th Streets, according to a West Philly Local reader report. The incident happened around 7:30 p.m. and the car drove off after striking the woman. Witnesses said that it was a black or dark convertible. A few people attended to the victim, who was “responsive but very little” while waiting for the ambulance.

We’re trying to get more information about the incident and the condition of the victim.

As we reported earlier, a 23-year-old man was shot multiple times and killed at the intersection of 54th Street and Florence Avenue on Sunday night. Police identified the man as Devin Hatch, who lived on the 5600 block of Florence Avenue. Five other men were wounded in the shooting, one critically. A crowd of people was outside Los Papi Deli & Grocery at 54th Street and Florence Avenue around 7 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 6, when a group of four to five gunmen walked up to the corner and opened fire, according to reports.

Devin’s friends and neighbors took to social media to express their grief (#ripdev). According to several tweets, a candlelight vigil for Devin will take place tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the scene of the shooting at 54th and Florence.

Police are investigating a multiple shooting that left one dead and several wounded at the intersection of 54th Street and Florence Avenue. Six young men, from 18 to 23 years old, were shot on Sunday, around 7 p.m. One person was killed and one critically injured, 6ABC reports. Four other victims are in stable condition. Police say that the young man who was killed lived on Florence Avenue, just a few blocks away from the scene of the shooting. He was shot multiple times in the back and chest, according to ABC. There were about 50 shell casings found at the scene.

Police said that it doesn’t appear to be a drive-by shooting, but a car was apparently involved. No other details are available at this time as the investigation continues.

A couple of crime reports from the weekend:

• A man and a woman were victims of a home invasion on the 200 block of South 44th Street on Saturday evening, Sept 28. Four intruders, two men and two women entered an apartment on the first floor after, locked the victims in the bedroom and ransacked the house, stealing electronic items, including a laptop, iPads and cell phones. One of the victims opened the door when the intruders knocked, NBC Philadelphia reports. The suspects fled through the back door and no injuries were reported.

This home invasion is not a random event, according to Joe Murray of Southwest Police Detectives. “Everyone involved is known to each other,” he told West Philly Local. No other details are available at this time, but Murray said that this crime is not related to the recent home invasion on the 200 block of 50th Street, which, police had said, also wasn’t a random act.

• A West Philly Local reader reports that his car parked in the 48th/49th and Baltimore Ave/Warrington Ave area was broken into on Friday night. “It appears to be someone just looking for money or something quick to sell. Fortunately for us we don’t keep anything in the car of value,” the reader wrote in an email. If you live on that block or in vicinity and your car has also been recently broken into, please let us know or post a comment below.

This neighbor also would like to send a reminder to other residents “to lock up and make sure nothing is visible to a would be stealer.”

Unfortunately, there has been another breaking and entering incident near 50th street. We reported yesterday about the home invasion on 50th street between Walnut and Locust (read more here), when three armed men wearing masks broke into a home on Tuesday early morning, tied up four people – a man and three women – and stole cash, computers and a car.

A West Philly Local reader reports that her house located on Cedar Avenue between 50th and 51st streets was broken into on Monday night, sometime before midnight, when no one was home. She says that windows were opened with a crowbar and the whole house was ransacked – the thief went through everyone’s drawers and closets.

Two bikes (a green trek hybrid with cruiser handlebars, and a no name road bike with gold and leopard paint) and two computers were stolen (one desktop iMac, one white PowerBook).

According to police, this burglary and the home invasion, which was a targeted attack, are not related.