Security guard is knifed to death and another is injured after suspect tried to steal HATS from Macy's in crime-ridden Philly: Killer arrested fleeing scene

A security guard has been stabbed to death after confronting a shoplifter inside a Macy's store right across from City Hall in Philadelphia, according to police.

Another guard was also injured in the stabbing spree when he intervened but is expected to survive, police said. 

A suspect has been arrested in the stabbing, which happened around 11am on Monday, according to local reports. 

Police told The Philadelphia Inquirer the suspect tried to steal hats before the stabbing but left the store without incident after the guards confronted him.

However, the man came back 10 minutes later and approached the guard before fatally stabbing him. 

Both guards remain unidentified by police, but are in their 20s. One is a longtime employee while the other has only worked at the store for a few months, police said.  

A large police presence remains outside the department store in Center City as of noon EST.

Holiday shoppers were being turned away and informed the store will likely remain closed for rest of the day. 

ABC 6 reports the suspect was arrested by SEPTA's Summerset station in the Kensington neighborhood after fleeing the scene on public transportation and throwing the knife on train tracks.

The stabbing happened shortly before 11am at the store's entrance on Market Street by 13th Street.

It comes as the nation’s sixth-largest city has been beleaguered by violent crime, tallying a record number of homicides in 2021, most of them gun-related. 

That number fell from 562 to 516 in 2022 but was still higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Texas congressman Troy Nehls reacted to the stabbing, writing on X: 'Three loss prevention employees in a Philadelphia Macy’s were just stabbed. Right across the street from City Hall. Democrat-run cities are not safe.'

Philadelphia has been plagued by crime in recent months - with relentless reports of robbery and looting.

Shocking footage out of the City of Brotherly Love showed Fine Wine And Good Spirits smashed apart in a September flash rob mob crime.

The brutes made off with the safe and raided the lottery machine on a night when liquor stores were shut down by the authorities.

Police said they made at least 52 arrests. Burglary, theft and other counts were filed against at least 30 people, all but three of them adults, according to Jane Roh, spokesperson for the Philadelphia district attorney's office.

Philadelphia residents denounced a recent spate of violent crime that has saw than 750 people shot since the end of May, as a series of high-profile incidents have rocked the crime-ridden city.

The newly elected mayor will have her work cut out for her in the crime-ridden city.

The city voted in a Democrat Mayor who vowed to crack down on crime in the troubled city by backing stop-and-frisk tactics.

Cherelle Parker, 51, was elected last night in a landslide vote to become the city's 100th mayor, and the first female mayor, having held office at state and local level.

Parker emerged from a crowded field in the May party primary as the only leading Black candidate, and was heavily favored over Republican David Oh in the Democratic stronghold city.

She is also the first Black woman to hold the post after building her campaign on a promise to make Philadelphia the 'safest, cleanest, greenest big city' in the nation.

Parker has also been outspoken in her support for law enforcement more than other Democrats in the City of Brotherly Love, which includes wanting to bring in the use stop-and-frisk for officers.