“There was always a code, that you didn’t shoot women and children,” said a woman who said she has watched waves of violence affect Philadelphia neighborhoods. But she said the recent deaths and injuries to young people new and shocking. Leah Uko reports.
Twelve people were shot and killed in Philadelphia over the Memorial Day weekend, pushing the city past 200 homicides before the start of summer.
Fifteen people were injured in addition to the 12 killed, in what police said was at least 15 shootings from early Saturday morning until Monday morning across Philadelphia.
Among the victims: a four-year-old and a nine-year-old.
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Around 6 a.m. Saturday, a 30-year-old man was shot multiple times while on North 50th Street in West Philly, police said. He was taken to the hospital where he died shortly after.
Later that morning, Philadelphia police said another man in his 30s and two women were shot on the 6300 block of North 21st Street in East Germantown. The man died and the two women were hospitalized.
A shooting Saturday evening in Kensington killed one man and injured a 25-year-old woman, Philadelphia police said. Officers on scene said the gunfire may have happened after a car crash on Kensington Avenue.
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About a half hour later, the youngest of the weekend’s victims, a 4-year-old boy, was hospitalized after police said he accidentally shot himself inside a car in West Philadelphia. Police said the child's father went into a barbershop to get a haircut and left his son unattended inside a car. The boy then shot himself on the left hand with a gun. The father is expected to face charges and his son is expected to recover.
Saturday evening, a man was shot in the leg on Rowena Drive in Torresdale. He’s in stable condition. Police said the 26-year-old victim knew the person who shot him and they were arrested.
The violence continued into Sunday morning when a triple shooting injured two teenaged boys and a man in the Logan section of the city. Police said the teens were sitting on the steps of a home on North 16th Street when a red-colored SUV drove by and shot at them just before 2:30 a.m. All three victims are in stable condition.
Just after sunrise, a man was shot seven times before driving himself to the hospital, Philadelphia police said. It happened on the 3100 block of Diamond Street in Strawberry Mansion. The 23-year-old man is stable at the hospital. A woman in her 20s was also shot in the forearm.
A man on Philip Street in North Philadelphia died after he was shot once in the back around 9:30 a.m. Sunday, police said.
Philadelphia police said a man in his late teens or early 20s was killed a rear alley in Overbrook before 2 p.m. He was shot multiple times throughout his body.
Later Sunday, a man was shot in the leg while arguing with another man on Market Street in West Philadelphia. He’s expected to survive and an arrest was made.
Three masked-men opened fire on a group of people outside enjoying the weather on North Lawrence Street around 9 p.m., according to Philadelphia police. A 56-year-old man was struck in the chest and stomach. He died at the hospital. And a 33-year-old woman was struck seven times throughout her body, but is stable. Philadelphia Police Inspector D.F. Pace said at least 30 shots were fired at the group.
Around 10:30 p.m Sunday, a father and his young son died in a drive-by shooting in Philadelphia's Wissinoming section. The child was just 9 years old, police said. The shooting happened on Carver Street Police also said multiple weapons were involved and more than 13 shots were fired.
The shootings in Philadelphia then bled into Memorial Day.
Philadelphia police said they found two women shot in the head at Delaware and Castor avenues in Port Richmond just before 1:30 a.m. Both of the women died at the hospital. A teenager was rushed to the hospital as well with a gunshot wound to the shoulder, and a block away, police found a man who had been shot three times. He is in critical condition, police said.
Around the same time, police said they were investigating a deadly shooting at North 16th St and West Erie Avenue in Tioga.
A man was shot while sitting in a car in front of a supermarket on Kensington Avenue around 4 a.m. Officers on scene told NBC10 two gunmen fired ten times at point-blank range through the car window.. Police said a good Samaritan took the man to the hospital where he’s in extremely critical condition.
A short time later, a 66-year-old man was shot and killed after he was shot on Anderson Street in East Germantown.
As of Monday morning, there were at least 206 homicides in Philadelphia this year.
There are additional resources for people or communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Further information can be found here.
