PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Three women and two men were shot Wednesday night about a half-mile from Temple University's campus. Three of the five victims are listed in critical condition, according to Philadelphia police.
Two suspects seen fleeing the scene were taken into custody. At least one of them had a gun on them, investigators said on scene.
According to preliminary information from police, the five victims were shot a combined 24 times. The shootings happened at about 7:25 p.m. near 18th and Oxford streets in North Philadelphia’s Cecil B. Moore neighborhood.
Police said a 28-year-old man was shot 14 times throughout his body. He was taken to a hospital and placed in extremely critical condition.
A 20-year-old woman was shot seven times throughout her body as well. She also was hospitalized and placed in extremely critical condition.
Three other people were shot once, police said. One of them, a 59-year-old man, was shot in the chest and placed in critical condition.
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The other two victims, a 21-year-old woman and a 19-year-old woman, were both shot once and placed in stable condition.
Police said several bullets also struck a home and a car nearby.
“These guns again, here we go with multiple shots fired on a beautiful night in Philadelphia, which is unacceptable,” said Capt. John Walker. “This is not the police department’s problem. … It’s everybody’s problem. It’s going to take this entire village to get this back under control.”
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James Dandy, who lives by the crime scene, said he was outside when he heard the gunshots.
“At first I thought it was kids playing with fireworks,” he said. “When I realized it was such rapid fire, I snatched up my dog and ran into the house.”
He’s lived on that block for more than 23 years. Unfortunately, he said, nights like these have become more common.
“Because that is a common behavior in this neighborhood, I really didn’t get panicky,” he added. “All I knew was to stay on the floor until the shooting stopped.”
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He wants to see community leaders and elected officials work together to get a handle on the city’s gun violence problem.
“North Philadelphia is a good neighborhood, a good place to live, but we have to get a handle on this gun violence,” he said.
Police said a weapon was recovered, but the motive for the shootings was initially unknown. Officers were looking at nearby security cameras to gather video with possible evidence, and also investigating a second person of interest in the case.