Man Gunned Down Outside Old City Restaurants; One of Several Shootings in Philly

A man was shot and killed in a firestorm of at least 27 bullets on a popular street of restaurants and shops in Old City Philadelphia Monday night.

That killing and another in Feltonville Monday pushed the number of murders in Philadelphia to at least 125 in just over three months. That's 29% more than at this point last year, city statistics show.

Philadelphia is grappling with a wave of homicides that increased even in the midst of a pandemic. Last year, the city had 499 murders -- the most since 1990.

And Philly is not the only large city seeing that kind of increase. Major American cities saw a 33% increase in homicides last year, according to a report produced by the Major Cities Chiefs Association.

Also Monday, the number of shootings in the city that didn't end in death continued to grow. Among them: a man was shot at a Chinese restaurant on Ridge Avenue and a woman was shot in the chest at B Street and Indiana Avenue in Kensington.

In total, since 5 p.m. Monday into early Tuesday, at least 11 people were shot in Philadelphia and at least four of them died.

The Old City slaying happened on Chestnut Street, just a few feet away from popular, high-end restaurants. As Jhalil Shands walked on the sidewalk with his girlfriend at about 9:30 p.m., a minivan pulled up.

Four men jumped out of the van with semiautomatic weapons, walked up to the 25-year-old North Philadelphia man and started shooting. Police have counted at least 27 shell casings, but said there may be more. There was no argument or robbery beforehand.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene. The woman was not physically hurt but was severely shaken.

Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said it appeared Shands had been targeted -- but given the busy nature of the street, the shooting could have been worse.

"There were numerous businesses open at the time with people sitting outside, just enjoying the weather, having a drink, having a meal. So although it is a tragedy that we have someone was shot and killed, we are actually very fortunate that there were not additional shooting victims.

The suspects have not been caught. The minivan may have been gold or silver and may have had Maryland plates, Small said.

Three people were shot in the Feltonville shooting, which happened after a fight at a neighborhood cookout. One died: a 32-year-old man who was shot four times in the chest as well as once in the arm and once in the stomach. He was pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital. A 29-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man were also hurt, but are expected to recover.

Two other deadly shootings took place overnight:

Around 11:10 p.m., police officers found a man shot multiple times inside a silver Toyota Tacoma on North 62nd Street in West Philadelphia. Jamal Jackson would die a short time later at the hospital.

Then, around 5 a.m., police found a man slumped over the steering wheel of a Honda Pilot that had struck a fire hydrant on West Coulter Street in the Germantown neighborhood. He died a short time later.

The woman in the shooting on Indiana Avenue was left in critical condition after being shot. There was no immediate information on the man shot in the Ridge Avenue restaurant.

There are additional resources for people or communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Further information can be found here.