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Young Mother Shot And Killed In Port Richmond Home

By Mike DeNardo 

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Police in Port Richmond are trying to find out who shot and killed a young mother, with her two-year-old daughter in the house at the time.

It is a crime that has people in this community shaking their heads. Neighbors here in the 3000 block of Aramingo Avenue say they heard a single shot around 11 p.m., and found 22-year-old Stephanie Dzikowski shot dead in her upstairs bedroom. Her two-year-old daughter was in the house but uninjured.

Kathy Sterling lives a few doors away and explains what she saw late Thursday night.

"My sister came up to get me and said, 'Something's wrong with Stephanie.' So they ran up and went in to see if they could help," Sterling recalls. "And they laid her down on the floor, they were going to do CPR but they couldn't because she was already gone."

Witnesses reported seeing a man in a grey hoodie running away from the house, south on Aramingo. Homicide detectives are interviewing witnesses, to try to determine who did this, and why.

"This is a close knit neighborhood. The neighbors are really puzzled as to who would want to harm this mother,"  Philadelphia Police Captain Drew Techner said.

A vigil was held Friday night for Dzikowski.

"I just still can't believe it," Dzikowski's first cousin Mike McGovern told Eyewitness News.

CBS 3 Eyewitness News Reporter David Spunt contributed to this report. 

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