PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) —
UPDATED: 11:14 AM
Four people were wounded in a shooting near the popular Max’s Steaks in North Philadelphia on Wednesday night. Yet even as police investigate, city officials say they have seen a recent modest drop in gun violence.
Police were called to go to the area of Germantown and Erie avenues around 10 p.m. Officers arrived and found none of the victims at the scene. Police said they were soon notified that the four victims had already been driven to Temple University Hospital.
"We’re lucky that all four victims are going to survive," said Chief Inspector Scott Small. "So we have four victims that are also witnesses. Hopefully they can help us and identify who did this and why."
Two of the victims are in critical condition: a 34-year-old man who was shot in the stomach and an unidentified man who was shot several times in the back. Police said an 18-year-old woman who was shot in both legs and a 33-year-old man who was shot in the groin and legs are both in stable condition.
Investigators said this may have been a drive-by shooting, because they found only three spent shell casings at the scene. One gun was recovered.
Police also checked out the two cars that were used to drive the victims to the hospital. Authorities said one of the cars had bullet holes and, inside, what appeared to be a bag filled with a pound of marijuana. Investigators spoke to the driver of that car.
There is no word on any charges in the incident, however police said they did make an arrest in relation to narcotics violations.
Related
The shooting happened on the same day Philadelphia officials, in their bi-weekly news conference on violence in the city, said there was a small downward trend in shootings and homicides in July.
Commissioner Outlaw said the Philadelphia Police Department has beefed up patrols in some key spots around the city.
"We’ve been flooding areas where we’ve been having the most problems," she said.
But Mayor Jim Kenney said the city cannot declare victory. Wednesday night's violence is a perfect example of why that is.
"We may have a bad weekend. We may have a bad couple days, which is not mission accomplished," he said.
Related
