A man picking up pizzas was sitting in his van when a gunman rolled up on him, shot in him the chest and hit another vehicle as he tried to flee, Philadelphia police said.
The victim was sitting in the driver’s seat of his van after picking up some pizzas from a Papa John’s near the intersection of 7th and Girard streets around 1:30 a.m. Monday when another man driving a silver SUV pulled up and fired multiple shots, police said.
The suspect then smashed into another vehicle, losing his SUV’s bumper in the process, before pulling a U-turn and driving away, police said. The suspect has not been located.
Elsewhere in the city two more people were shot, one fatally, when someone opened fire on the 800 block of E. Madison street in the Kensington neighborhood shortly after 3 a.m.
Both victims were taken to Temple University Hospital, where one of them, a 30-year-old man struck in the armpit, was pronounced dead, police said. No arrests were made in that shooting, either.
The incidents represent a continuation of gun violence that has seen 41 people struck and eight killed in 30 separate shootings since Friday evening, according to information released by the Philadelphia Police Department.
There have been nearly 2,000 shootings and more than 1,200 people struck this year, according to police statistics, which are current only through Aug. 16. That represents a jump of nearly 620 shootings and almost 320 people struck since the same time last year, though the figures surely grew overnight into Monday morning.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
Homicides in Philadelphia are also up, with at least 270 people killed since Sunday night, marking a 31% increase since the same time last year.
Deputy Managing Director Vanessa Garrett Harley, the city’s top official for violence prevention, and Temple University gun policy researcher Jason Gravel told NBC10 that they believe the COVID-19 pandemic could be compounding a gun violence epidemic that has been getting worse in recent years.
There are additional resources for people or communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Further information can be found here.
