PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A man and woman were found shot to death inside a car in North Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon, pushing the number of victims so far this year to exceed the total number of victims for the full years of 2013 and 2014, respectively.
The man and woman were both shot in the back of their heads inside a car that was parked along Huntingdon Street, near Cumberland Street.
The bodies were discovered just before 1:30 p.m. Sources say it looks like the killer shot the pair while sitting in the rear seats of the car.
The woman had a pink Taser in her lap, they say.
The victims were later identified as 34-year-old Stephanie Coccaro of Vineland, New Jersey, and 38-year-old William Dean of Richland, New Jersey.
This is the 35th homicide so far this month. It marks a grim milestone for the city with 250 total homicide victims — more than all of 2013 (246 victims) and 2014 (248).
Most of the homicides are shootings, and police say they mostly stem from arguments or drug-related interactions.
Still, the number of victims has steadily hovered more than 35% than this time last year, which saw a total of 499 homicides.
Mayor Jim Kenney addressed the surge at a press conference earlier on Tuesday, pointing to the access of firearms as the top reason.
"Our police are working extremely hard at taking guns off the street every single day, twice as many as they took off the street last year," Kenney said.
"We still have this issue, which means people are getting them extremely easy, faster than a driver’s license in Pennsylvania, and something is wrong with that."
He also said he hopes to get federal funding to help temper the gun violence.
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