Three people were killed and 11 injured in a shootout in a South Philadelphia neighborhood on Saturday night. Police reportedly saw a man shooting into a crowd near the intersection of Third and South streets around midnight and one officer returned fire.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney called the shooting “beyond devastating” in a statement on Sunday, condemning “yet another horrendous, brazen and despicable act of gun violence” as he lamented what he described as a “steep rise in gun violence over the past few years” in both Philadelphia and the US as a whole.
“I know this shooting has shaken our community. The safety of our residents and visitors is top priority,” he said, insisting his administration was working with police to “reduce violence and create safer communities.”
No one has been arrested in connection with the incident, though two guns were found at the scene and police are reportedly seeking surveillance videos from business owners along the South Street strip in the hope of identifying the gunmen. It was the tenth shooting reported in Philadelphia this weekend.
On Friday night, a 20-year-old pregnant woman was found shot in the head. She died an hour after police found her, though the baby is reportedly in stable condition. A 15-year-old boy was also shot that night in West Philadelphia, though he survived and is reportedly in stable condition.
On Saturday afternoon, a 23-year-old man was found shot in the chest at the Susquehanna-Dauphin subway station. He was taken to the hospital, where he remains in critical condition. He is believed to have been in an altercation with the gunman outside the station.
A 58-year-old man was found shot in the chest inside a vehicle in West Philadelphia and taken to the hospital, where he remains in critical condition. In the city’s Nicetown neighborhood, a 38-year-old man was shot repeatedly after an argument at a nightclub, leaving him in extremely critical condition. A 23-year-old man was shot in the elbow in North Philadelphia, while a 21-year-old was shot in the left leg on Friday night in the Olney neighborhood. A 23-year-old was shot twice on Friday night in West Philadelphia.
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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. The vast majority (89%) involved guns, and most of the victims were black men between the ages of 18 and 34. The previous homicide record was set in 1990, when 500 killings took place in the city. However, Philadelphia had already recorded its 100th killing by March, putting it on track to break last year’s record.
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