Neighbors grabbed their kids and made them come indoors after someone unloaded a barrage of bullets Monday inside a crowded park in Philadelphia's most violent neighborhood.
18 bullets were fired. Two men were shot at Fairhill Square, a park bordered by Huntingdon Street, Lehigh Avenue, 4th and N. Lawrence Streets in Philly's Fairhill neighborhood — the most dangerous neighborhood in the city right now according to the latest crime statistics.
The shootings happened in the middle of the day around 1:30 p.m. when the park was full of people including children, out enjoying the last week of summer break before school begins.
Philadelphia police took the victims to Temple Hospital and were searching for the person or people responsible.
Recently, the city has seen a small spike in homicides overall and in this particular neighborhood, in the month of August alone, there were 40 violent crimes in Fairhill — 3 homicides, 5 rapes, 13 robberies and with Monday's shootings, 21 assaults according to crime data collected from the Philadelphia Police Department and curated by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Fairhill has a violent crime rate of 2.43 per 1,000 residents. Among the city's 55 distinct neighborhoods, that statistic makes Fairhill the riskiest place to live for violent crime.
If you look at violent crime over the year so far, Fairhill still holds the top spot with 7 homicides, 16 rapes, 18 robberies and 116 assaults.
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The area is home to nearly 16,500 residents. The poverty rate is 62.4% with an average income is $21,145. One out of four people in Fairhill is unemployed. Nearly half the residents have no high school education. Four percent graduated college.
Chestnut Hill ranks as the neighborhood with the lowest rate of violent crime this year. No murders. One rape. 2 robberies and 5 assaults.
