PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Five-hundred people have now been killed in the city of Philadelphia — a grim milestone reached only once back in 1990.
At that point in time, that was the highest number of homicides ever recorded in the City of Brotherly Love in a single year. Now, 2021 will be the highest on record.
Police said that at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, a 55-year-old woman was shot three times in her chest in South Philadelphia. She was pronounced dead at 5:15 p.m.
With about six weeks left in the year, that number of 500 is likely to grow.
Antonio Walker Jr., Kahree Simmons and Simone Monea-Rogers, all 15 years old, were all shot and killed this year.
Kahlief Myrick, 16, was gunned down while standing outside of a 7-Eleven with his cousin in Southwest Philly. Bashil Garrison, also 16, was simply waiting for the bus outside of his school in West Philly.
Their short lives make up the nearly 40 minors who are victims of homicide in Philadelphia this year. That number has more than doubled from just two years ago, when 18 kids and teens were killed by homicide.
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The number of women has also nearly doubled in the last year: Morgan Braxton and her mother, Tamara Aikens, killed by Braxton’s ex; pregnant 32-year-old Jessica Covington gunned down outside her Lawncrest home after her baby shower; Constance Marshall and Irene McNair shot and killed in an abandoned church-turned-speakeasy. They are just a handful of the five-dozen women who have had their lives taken, most of whom were shot.
More than 60 women have been killed so far in 2021. There were 40 women killed in 2020 and 51 in 2019.
The largest group of victims are Black men between the ages of of 25 and 34. There’s 26-year-old Khalief Baxter, a young father who was shot and killed in Point Breeze in July, or Joshua Butts, whose 6-year-old son was injured by the same gunfire that killed his father.
The second-largest number is Black young men between 18 and 24. Khaliyl Gilbert, 22, a beloved son and brother, wanted to become a police officer. He was shot and killed in October.
There’s Tyrell Jones, Mikal Meredith, Shamir Gilmore — the list of names goes on.
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Philadelphia police say arguments and drugs are driving the killings.
City officials and community leaders held a press conference Wednesday morning to condemn the violence and again urge people to put the guns down. The police commissioner, council president and members, state lawmakers, the U.S. attorney, and other leaders were all in attendance. District Attorney Larry Krasner was not, though he was scheduled to attend.
Over the weekend, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw released a statement calling the 500 lost lives “unconscionable.” She said the damage to “thousands of other lives impacted” can never truly be known.
“Each and every homicide carries with it a profound sense of loss,“ Outlaw added in a statement after Wednesday's homicide.
“However, for our city to have reached such a tragic milestone - 500 lives cut short - it carries a weight that is almost impossible to truly comprehend."
She urges people to contact police if they have any information about a case — “be the catalyst to change in our communities.”