PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia police have identified two teenagers shot and killed over the weekend in separate shootings, as the city's mayor decries criminals' access to guns.
On Friday night just befor 8:30 p.m., Jalen Jones was shot 13 times, killed at 55th and Market in West Philadelphia. He is from that area, and he was just days shy of his 17th birthday.
On Sunday afternoon around 4:30 p.m. in Overbrook, Shaquille Mauri Barbour, 18, was shot several times throughout the body in Morris Park along 68th Street near Malvern Avenue.
He later died at the hospital.
Related
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney addressed the on-going violence during an unrelated Zoom press conference.
"The bottom line is, no one really wants to say it, but I will say it, there is too quick access to guns in this country and in this state," he said.
"When we first started to initiate our group violence initiative, we were in a pandemic and people were not permitted to interact with each other. Now that we are getting people vaccinated, getting back to somewhat normal life, we have much more ability to intercede with these folks that we couldn’t do when we were in a lockdown, in a pandemic."
Related
Kenney said the city is also dealing with the element of young people taking out frustrations, arguments and other conflicts while having access to guns.
"They are taking them out with guns, which is a result I believe directly of COVID-19, and being cooped up for more than a year," he said.
The city has about 60 homicides than this time last year, and about a hundred more than 2019.