Man murdered by carjackers while protecting toddler daughter

Carjackers murdered a father of two last week in front of his two-year-old daughter as he tried to protect her.

Gerard Grandzol, 38, had just returned to his home in Philadelphia on 7 September after an outing to play Frisbee in a park with his daughter and dog.

Police say that Maurice Roberts, 21, and his brother Marvin Roberts, 16, approached Grandzol as he got out of his car outside his home and demanded he give them his wallet and car keys.

Grandzol said he had to take his daughter out of the back seat, and police allege the younger Roberts brother then shot him twice in the face at point-blank range with a 9mm handgun while his daughter was still in the car.

The brothers fled, and neighbours rushed to Grandzol's aid, but he died of his injuries later that night in hospital.

A GoFundMe page entitled Gerard Grandzol Memorial Fund has raised $US253,980 ($317,500) to support Grandzol's family. His younger daughter was just three months old. 

Grandzol was a well-loved community activist and a keen hockey player, who worked as the executive director of a legal recruiting firm. A funeral mass was held on Wednesday, with thousands of attendees. 

Police revealed that both the Roberts brothers were on probation, Maurice for selling drugs and Marvin for robbery. A surveillance video captured them at the scene of the crime, in which Grandzol's daughter is heard on tape crying after her father is shot.

At a news conference, Philadelphia police captain John Ryan said of the video, "It's terrible. It's one of the most horrific things I've seen in 24 years in the police department. Very hard to watch." 

Ryan said police could not explain why Roberts killed Grandzol, with the only possible reason being "a touch of evil".