PHILADELPHIA, PA – A 24-year-old woman from Upper Darby pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges stemming from an August 2024 carjacking in which she stole a family’s SUV with their infant inside and fired a gun at the child’s father, prosecutors announced.
Phillis Fugah entered the plea in U.S. District Court to one count of carjacking and one count of using, carrying, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
According to court documents, Fugah and an unidentified male approached a parked Honda Pilot on the 7100 block of West Chester Pike on August 29, 2024. Inside the SUV was a man sitting in the back seat with his two young children. The male suspect fled after opening the front passenger door.
Fugah entered the vehicle from the driver’s side, pointed a firearm at the man, and demanded money. The man’s five-year-old son exited the SUV onto the sidewalk. As the father exited the vehicle and tried to retrieve his infant from the back seat, Fugah struggled with him before firing a round that struck his baseball cap and shattered the window. A piece of the bullet also hit the window of an occupied SEPTA bus across the street.
Fugah fled the scene in the SUV with the infant still inside. The vehicle was found shortly after, with the child unharmed.
She is scheduled to be sentenced on November 4 and faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life.
