Gun violence claimed two lives in Philadelphia overnight as the city continues to battle with an increase in killings so far in 2017.
Philadelphia Police responded to Rising Sun Avenue near Rockland Street in Feltonville around 2:25 a.m. Wednesday to find a 24-year-old man shot outside a building. Officers rushed the man to Temple University Hospital where he died a short time later, police said.
About 20 minutes later, officers responded to Bonsall Street near Lehigh Avenue in North Philadelphia to find a body on the street. Bullets struck the 31-year-old man in the head, chest, back and neck. Medics pronounced the man dead a short time later. [[415074923, C]]
Investigators didn’t immediately identify the victims or any suspects in either shooting.
Philadelphia Police also called the possible shooting death of a 77-year-old man on the 5900 block of Windsor Street Tuesday night suspicious and said homicide detectives were investigating.
As of Tuesday, 48 people were killed in Philadelphia, up from 35 last year and the highest total through the first two months of the year since there were 61 murders in 2011, according to Philadelphia Police crime statistics.
