Mom shot dead at Dunkin Donuts drive-thru with son in car

A beloved Pennsylvania teacher was gunned down at a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru on Tuesday as her 11-year-old son sat helplessly in the backseat of her car, authorities said.

Rachel King, 35, was turning her Ford Edge in to join the line at a Dunkin’ drive-thru early Tuesday morning in Cheltenham when she was shot in what officials say was a targeted attack, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said.

“This appears to be a targeted murder of a mother,” District Attorney Kevin Steele said in a statement.

The suspected gunman, described as having a thin build, walked up to the driver’s side of King’s car at about 7:39 a.m. and fired multiple shots through her window.

King’s son sat in the back seat but was not physically injured in the shooting.

The gunman “did not attempt to open the victim’s vehicle door, nor did he appear to communicate with her prior to shooting her numerous times through her driver’s side window,” Steele said.

King was also a devoted single mother. She also was a “treasured” seventh and eighth-grade English teacher at Grover Cleveland Elementary in Philadelphia, according to a GoFundMe set up to cover her funeral expenses and help her son in the future.

King’s boyfriend told Action News that she had been taking her young son to his violin practice at the time she was shot, and said he had no idea who would want to target her.

Her boyfriend added that the loving single mother had been working toward a master’s degree and earning her principal’s certificate after working as a teacher for 10 years.

“Rachel was a cherished member of the Grover Cleveland Elementary Schools community, where she had taught for over a decade. Her loss has left a deep void in the lives of her family, friends, colleagues and students,” King’s family wrote on the fundraiser’s page.

Mastery Charter Schools, which runs King’s school, said in a statement that they were “devastated by the loss of an extraordinary teacher, who spent the last 10 years working with our students and their families.”

Her brother, Allen King, told ABC News that his sister was a bright light and a “good person.”

“She’d light up the room,” her brother said. “She was bright in every way possible, whether it was her shoes, her hair, her nails, her voice.”

The suspected gunman is described as wearing light-colored pants and a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt.

He was seen driving a light-colored sedan, possibly a Ford or Mercury, before the shooting.

After the shooting he fled back to his vehicle and left the scene, driving eastbound on Cheltenham Avenue.