Philly leaders hold meeting on teen gun violence after recent shootings

City leaders held an emergency meeting following a stretch of four days in which multiple teenagers were shot in Philadelphia.

Councilmember Anthony Phillips and other city leaders hosted the meeting at the Charles M. Finley Recreation Center Tuesday evening in the city’s West Oak Lane neighborhood.

“We’re putting together this taskforce between Parks and Rec, the city of Philadelphia, city council, and also our Philadelphia Police Department among some other key stakeholders to talk about, ‘Hey, what do we need to do to make our rec centers even stronger when it comes to public safety?’ When it comes to programming. When it comes to staffing,” Phillips said.

Tuesday's meeting took place at the same rec center where one of the recent shootings occurred. A 15-year-old boy, 16-year-old boy and 14-year-old boy were all shot at the Finley Recreation Center on the 900 block of East Upsal Street on Saturday, March 29, around 5 p.m.

The 15-year-old is in critical condition while the two other teens are stable. Police said the three victims are also suspects in the shooting and they’re being held in custody at the hospital.

Tuesday night, police released surveillance video of a masked suspect in the shooting.

At the same time the meeting took place at the Finley Recreation Center, another shooting at a different Philadelphia recreation center left an 18-year-old injured.

Brenda Myrick, a great-grandmother who is raising two children, ages 7 and 11, told NBC10 she’s worried about the violence among the youth at or near the city’s playgrounds and recreation centers.

“When I do take them to the playground, I just enjoy watching the children just have fun,” she said. “My concern is when I can go to a playground with the children and you see drug paraphernalia. You see people smoking. You see this and that’s a bad influence on our babies.”

As Philadelphia’s Parks & Recreation Department prepares for the summer season, they’re working to fill several positions, including lifeguards and staff members at camps. Jonathan Wilson, the executive director of the Fathership Foundation, has long worked to help children stay on track. He told NBC10 summer jobs provide them the opportunity to stay out of trouble.

“When someone’s working, it does a lot for your self-concept. A lot for your self-esteem,” he said. “And it would do the same thing for our youth in the community.”

Nearly 1,000 children have been shot in Philly in the past 5 years

Almost two kids a week have been shot in the city so far this year, according data from the Philadelphia police and, that’s as youth violence is at its lowest point since before the pandemic.

In the past five years, police data shows that about 950 kids have been shot and 130 killed in Philadelphia.

That same data shows gun violence in the city typically peaks during the summer with July being the most common month for shootings. According to the data, children are most likely to be impacted by gun violence between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The data also shows more children are shot on Mondays than any other day in the week and most of the shootings are occurring in the 22^nd District, which includes North Philadelphia, Strawberry Mansion and Brewerytown.

Despite the recent violence, reported homicides in Philadelphia are still down more than 27% from the same time last year, which ultimately saw the lowest number of homicides in the city in a decade, according to police data.