Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore with the Philadelphia Police Department shared the latest information on the investigation into the shooting that left eight high school students hurt on Wednesday.
What to Know
- Authorities say eight teenagers in Northeast Philadelphia were injured in another shooting near a SEPTA bus. Wednesday's shooting is the fourth shooting involving the transit system in as many days.
- Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel says students from Northeast High School were waiting for a bus when three people emerged from a blue car and fired more than 30 shots.
- Police will reveal the latest on the search for the three suspects during a Thursday afternoon press conference.
Philadelphia police continue to search for three gunmen who shot eight teenagers who were waiting at a SEPTA bus stop in Northeast Philadelphia as well as the getaway driver who drove the shooters to and from the scene.
Philadelphia Police Deputy Commissioner of Investigations Frank Vanore revealed more details on the investigation during a Thursday afternoon press conference.
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People emerge from car to fire into group of teens
The ordeal began around 3 p.m. Wednesday at the intersection of Cottman and Rising Sun avenues in the Burholme section of the city where students from nearby Northeast High School were waiting at a SEPTA bus stop. As a Route 18 bus pulled up at the stop, three people exited a car that was parked across the street outside a Dunkin' Donuts, pulled out their weapons and fired more than 30 shots, police said.
Surveillance video of the shooting released by Philadelphia Police shows three people in hoods getting out of the passenger doors of a blue Hyundai Sonata with dark-tinted windows. The shooters have their guns pointed toward the area of the bus stop.
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The three gunmen then run toward the bus stop as a bus is pulling up before they all turn around and run back into the blue car. A fourth suspect then drove the gunmen away from the scene, police said.
Police said seven teenage boys and a teenage girl were shot. Two of the victims are 15 years old, five of the victims, including the teen girl, are 16 years old and one victim is 17 years old, according to police.
Seven of the victims are stable while one of the 16-year-old boys who was shot nine times in the torso is in critical condition, police said.
Monique Braxton, deputy chief of communications for the Philadelphia School District, said the shooting occurred near Crossan Elementary, which was dismissing students at the time, but pulled them back inside and locked down. It later got an all-clear from police.
A SEPTA official told NBC10 two buses were also struck by gunfire though no one on either bus was injured.
What we know about the shooters and their vehicle
Police said one of the gunmen was a thin man wearing a black balaclava style mask with a white Nike swoosh logo on the sides, a long black coat with white front and back North Face logos, black pants with solid white stripes down the sides and black New Balance sneakers with white logos and soles.
The second suspect is described as a thin man wearing a black face mask, black hooded sweatshirt, black sweatpants, high, white socks, black New Balance sneakers with white logos and soles and blue gloves.
The third suspect is described as a thin man wearing a black face mask, black hooded sweatshirt, black sweatpants and light gray sneakers with a dark gray design or logo on the sides and soles that are dark gray on the sides and yellow on the bottom.
Police are also searching for the getaway driver but have not released their description.
On Wednesday at 10:31 p.m., the blue Hyundai Sonata was found unattended on the 400 block of West Fern Street. The vehicle was taken to a police facility but was unable to be processed that night due to the heavy rain. Vanore said it will be processed on Thursday.
Vanore also revealed the Sonata had been reported stolen back on March 2. Police believe the suspects in the theft drove a Kia Shortage to the blue Sonata's location, got out of the Kia and then stole the Sonata. Police had taken the Kia in on the day of the theft and are now processing it for any potential evidence in connection to Wednesday's mass shooting.
Violence near SEPTA properties
The incident was the fourth shooting near a SEPTA property in the past four days with a total of 11 juveniles shot in the city since Monday, according to officials.
Tuesday's shooting occurred around 6:35 p.m. when police said a verbal argument and then a physical fight began. One of the two passengers exited, turned and fired two shots from a 9 mm handgun, hitting a man later identified as 37-year-old Carmelo Drayton. He died shortly afterward at a hospital.
The shooter, who officials said was wearing one of the kinds of masks not allowed on the transit system, fled. Authorities were investigating possible motive, and no other injuries were reported.
On Monday, a 17-year-old Dayemen Taylor, a student at Imhotep Institute Charter, was killed and four other people were wounded when gunfire erupted at a bus stop. The victims included two women who were riding on a bus.
And on Sunday, around 11:30 p.m., a 27-year-old man was killed by another passenger moments after they both got off a bus. Witnesses said the two had argued, but a motive remains under investigation.
No arrests have been made in any of the shootings, Vanore said. During Thursday's press conference, Vanore also said there is no evidence at this time that Monday's shooting and Wednesday's shooting are connected to each other.
"We need a do a lot more to say if ones connected to the other," Vanore said.
City leaders react to the shooting
Mayor Cherelle Parker, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel, District Attorney Larry Krasner, School District Superintendent Tony Watlington and SEPTA Police Chief Charles Lawson all addressed the mass shooting during a press conference early Wednesday evening.
"The purpose of our being here today is to inform you all that enough is enough," Parker said. "That every law enforcement partner that we have here in the city of Philadelphia is actively engaged in working together to ensure that every resource that is needed is readily available so that the work can be done to solve crimes."
Bethel was passionate while speaking about Wednesday's shooting as well as the recent violence.
“It’s hard to sit here in three days and have 11 juveniles shot who are going and coming from school. The cowardly acts that we’ve seen over the last three days are unacceptable," Bethel said. “The downstream impacts if we do not address gun violence and we do not address guns is what we see today.”
Bethel also said his department would be "ramping up" their resources in the aftermath of the violence.
“We cannot ignore what we’re seeing over the last three days. I will not sit here and people call me and tell me what I should or should not be doing," Bethel said. "This is what we see when we give guns in the hands of juveniles and what they do with them. Telling kids they should not carry guns because they’re scared. Really? This is the end results of what we see. So we’re going to work hard and continue with the men and women behind me and my team to get these guns off the street and stop this from happening.”
Bethel also had a message for parents of kids involved in the violence.
"Go in those rooms and look under those tables and look in those closets and get those guns out of the house. Because at the end of the day many of those kids are coming from the same communities of where they’re shooting in," Bethel said. "And they know who they are."
Bethel called on parents as well as communities to help end the violence.
"We can’t do this by ourselves," he said. "We need the community, we need parents to get engaged in what their young people are doing. They’re looking at drill rap. They’re looking at TV. They’re doing all these things and putting themselves on social media. And then getting fired up and engaged and then coming out here to shoot. Small beefs. Small beefs on social media."
Parker said city leaders would use "every legal tool in the toolbox" to provide safety for Philadelphia residents.
“You need to know that we are going to do everything that we can to ensure your public health and safety and we don’t apologize for using every legal and constitutional tool in our tool belts in order to get that done," Parker said.
Towards the end of the press conference, NBC10's Aaron Baskerville asked Parker if one of those "tools" would include implementing stop and frisk. Commissioner Bethel intervened before Mayor Parker answered.
“Is this the moment? Is this the moment in time to talk about that? Is this the moment in time? We’re talking about the work we need to do to deal with the issues we have," Bethel said. "We have 11 children shot today. This is not about stop and frisk. This is not about that right now. This is about what we’re going to do as a city to address the violence that we’re seeing now.”
The most recent shooting occurred only a few hours after Lawson said they were cracking down on crime amid the violence near SEPTA properties. Lawson referenced his earlier press conference while speaking about the mass shooting.
“I will let those comments stand on their own but much of what I said stands and you’re seeing the effort of that now," Lawson said.
Krasner, meanwhile, spoke about the traumatic impact of Wednesday's shooting on the entire school community.
"This does not just kill and harm the people who were struck with the bullets. This is a devastating, disabling, horrifying event for every child who was out here," Krasner said. "Every child who goes to that school. Every parent whose child goes to that school. Every person who rides public transit. And the city lives by its schools and it lives by its public transit.”
Children have also been caught in the crossfire in about 8% of the nearly 170 shootings in the city as of the most recent City Controller's Office shooting data last updated on Sunday. That number is expected to rise after the recent mass shootings targeting teens.
'A tight-knit community'
Northeast High School (NEHS) is more than a mile from where the shooting took place and the largest public high school in the city with more than 3,000 students.
On Thursday, NEHS operated on a virtual learning schedule and will continue to do so for the rest of the week.
"Ours is a tight-knit community, and I know this is difficult news to receive. I personally am devastated by this afternoon’s senseless act of violence that has greatly impacted our students and families," Omar Crowder, the principal of NEHS, said in a statement. "Please know that the mental and physical safety of students is our top priority. NEHS will continue to partner with the district to improve the physical, social and emotional safety of NEHS students and young people across the city."
Dr. Watlington said resources will be available for students at the high school through the District’s Emergency Crisis Response Team of the Office of Prevention and Intervention.
“We are just absolutely heartbroken and angry that innocent children walking home from school would be impacted by gun violence. We agree with the mayor. Enough is enough," Watlington said. "We will have trained crisis professionals at Northeast High School tomorrow to provide support to our students and families as they process this horrific, unconscionable act of violence.”
If you have any information on the incident, please call 911 immediately or submit an anonymous tip to 215-686-TIPS.
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There are additional resources for people or communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Further information can be found here.
