PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Three children, including an 8-year-old girl and two 16-year-olds, were shot in Philadelphia Thursday in separate incidents.
Police say the 8-year-old is lucky to be alive after she was grazed in the head by a bullet. It happened along 13th Street in North Philadelphia, near Temple University’s main campus Thursday night.
Several people were inside a car waiting for another car to drive by when they began firing a barrage of bullets. Close to 50 shots were fired, police said.
The 8-year-old was standing outside and was grazed by one of the bullets.
“Little girl in front of her door is shot,” explained Deputy Commissioner John Stanford. “At this point, it’s becoming a broken record of us sitting here talking about this gun violence in the city.”
One person inside the passing car was also hit in the leg and taken to the hospital separately. Officials say they crashed while trying to flee the attack.
Earlier, around 4 p.m., a 16-year-old boy was shot three times in the back near Frederick Douglass Elementary School, located by West Norris and North 22nd streets. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Then around 7 p.m. in South Philadelphia, a 16-year-old girl was shot. Police found a gun inside a charcoal grill not far from the scene. She is also listed in critical condition.
So far, there have been no arrests in any of these shootings.
According to the Philadelphia Controller’s Office, more than 166 children under the age of 18 have been shot in the city this year. That’s 10 more victims than this same time last year.
“At this point, you have to become disgusted enough,” Stanford added. “And I know the citizens of this city are at that point. But we need folks to come out and start assisting us, hand in hand, to stop this.”
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