PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — More than two-dozen people were shot over the holiday weekend — including nine teenagers. The number of people who are victims of gun violence in the city has already topped 2,000 this year.
The holiday weekend shootings happened all over the city: Ogontz, Strawberry Mansion, the Northeast — and West Philadelphia, where three teenagers were shot Saturday afternoon. Just before 12:30 p.m. on Walton Avenue, near 60th Street, a 16-year-old boy was hit several times through the torso, another was shot in the hip, and an 18-year-old was shot in the back.
That night, two more teenagers were shot: a 16-year-old, five times in the lower back area, and an 18-year-old, throughout the body. The violence occurred just blocks away from LaSalle University in Ogontz.
In total, more than 180 juveniles have been shot this year alone, contributing to the more than 2,050 people who have been victims of gun violence this year.
It's the most number of victims since the Philadelphia Police Department started recording criminal shootings — meaning someone is shot by someone else.
Prior to 2006, officials say the department combined criminal and non-criminal shootings — such as someone accidentally shooting themselves.
And the shooting didn't stop when the new week started. On Monday morning, another three people were shot in the city's Kensington neighborhood, including a 16-year-old boy and two men ages 20 and 32.
More than 450 people have been killed this year mostly by gunfire, the highest number of homicides in three decades.
