Multiple gunmen fired into a crowd in Philadelphia’s downtown entertainment district
On Saturday evening, three people died and eleven were injured during a shooting incident in South Philadelphia. A man was seen by police shooting at a crowd in the area of Third and South Streets around midnight. An officer then returned fire.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney called the shooting “beyond devastating” in a statement on Sunday, condemning “Yet another horrible act of gun violence.” as he lamented what he described as a “Recent years have seen an escalating rise in gun violence” in both Philadelphia and the US as a whole.
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“This shooting is a tragedy that has affected our entire community. Safety of residents and visitors are our top priorities,” he said, insisting his administration was working with police to “You can reduce violence and build safer communities.”
Although no one was arrested for the incident, two firearms were discovered at the scene. Police are seeking surveillance video from South Street business owners in order to identify the gunmen. The incident was the tenth in Philadelphia this weekend.
A pregnant 20-year-old woman, shot in the head by police on Friday night. The baby was reportedly stable and she died within an hour of being found by police. The shooting of a 15-year old boy in West Philadelphia that night also killed him, but he is now in stable condition.
At the Susquehanna – Daphin subway station, Saturday afternoon, a man aged 23 was discovered shot in the chest. He was taken to hospital and is still in critical condition. According to reports, he was involved in an altercation outside of the station with the gunman.
In West Philadelphia, a man aged 58 was discovered shot in the chest by a vehicle. He was then taken to the hospital. A 38-year old man, who was involved in an altercation at a nightclub, was repeatedly shot and left in critical condition. North Philadelphia saw a man aged 23 being shot in the elbow. On Friday night, Olney witnessed a young woman shot in her left leg. Two shots were fired on Friday in West Philadelphia at a 23 year-old man.
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No arrests were made in any of the weekend’s shootings.
Philadelphia set a record for homicides last year, with 561 killings – up 13% over 2020. Most of the victims, who were mostly black between 18 and 34 years old, died from gunshot wounds (89%) In 1990, 500 murders were recorded in Philadelphia. This was the previous homicide record. However, Philadelphia had already recorded its 100th killing by March, putting it on track to break last year’s record.
