PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Three people were killed and five others were wounded in separate shootings in Philadelphia on Thursday night. Police say one incident may have stemmed from road rage involving a gunman on a dirt bike who got away.
The shootings happened between 6:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. The first, which police on scene described as linked to possible road rage, happened at 52nd and Girard streets in West Philadelphia.
Police say they arrived to find a 37-year-old slumped over in the driver’s seat of a car. He had with gunshot wounds to his head and chest, they said, and he died later at the hospital.
According to initial police reports, the driver pulled over at that location so that his friend could go into a convenience store. While the friend was in the store, police say the killer, who was riding what may have been a green-and-white off-road motorcycle, stopped after following the car.
"[The dirt bike] made a U-turn on Girard Avenue, came back, and at point blank range, fired six shots at the driver of the vehicle," Philadelphia Police Inspector D.F. Pace said at the scene. Investigators, based on interviews with the friend who went into the store, say it is possible that this violence stemmed from road rage at a different location.
"Preliminary investigation also shows there may have been multiple motorcycles involved initially," Pace said. "One of which returned and opened fire on this vehicle."
Following this incident, police say five separate shootings took place in different parts of the city.
A 29-year-old man was killed in the area of 53rd and Spruce streets in West Philadelphia.
A man was left in critical condition after being shot several times at West Berks Street and Norris Drive in North Philadelphia. Police say there was an arrest.
A man in his 20s was shot while on a front porch at 61st and Arch streets. He is in stable condition.
A 19-year-old man is in critical condition, and an 18-year-old woman is in stable condition, after a shooting at 52nd and Pentridge streets in Kingsessing.
A 25-year-old man was killed, and a 24-year-old woman is stable, following a shooting in the area of North Franklin and West Loudon streets.
There were no arrests for any of the fatal shootings.