PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A 16-year-old boy was killed and three other people were hurt in a pair of shootings within a half hour of each other on Wednesday evening in Philadelphia.
Police say the teen was shot several times in Tioga shortly after 5 p.m. He was found in an empty lot on West Erie Avenue off of North Broad Street.
He was taken to the hospital and was pronounced dead.
Chief Inspector Scott Small told news partner NBC10 they were not sure of the motive, but they are investigating a possible connection to another shooting this week.
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“Monday night around the same time, we had a 16-year-old male shot in the leg, about a half a block from this location,” said Small.
“Since it happened just two days ago around the same time, we're looking at the possibility that these two shootings, we believe they may be related.”
Just after 5 p.m., a triple shooting in Cobbs Creek left two men and a teenage boy injured, police say.
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A 56-year-old and a 21-year-old were both shot in their chest. Both were taken to a hospital and listed in critical condition. A bullet grazed the 17-year-old’s ear, and he was expected to physically recover.
Police did not initially make any arrests or recover any weapons.
The shootings happened just hours after Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney outlined the curbing of gun violence as the main goal of his final year in office.
There have been 1,076 homicides — 514 in 2022, 562 in 2021 — and 4,583 shootings in the city over the last two years.
Statistics from the City of Philadelphia show for the last three years, about 10% of shooting and homicide victims were under 18 years old.
Kristen Johanson and Pat Loeb contributed to this report.