CHESTER, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Two people were critically hurt in a late-night shooting in Chester, Delaware County — the third violent incident that police responded to on Tuesday.
The shooting happened in the area of Ninth and Pennell streets around 11:30 p.m. Two people were shot in the head and taken to the hospital in critical condition, police said.
Investigators did not go into the circumstances leading up to the shooting. No one was arrested.
Earlier in the day, police responded to shots being fired near a basketball court on Frank Young Avenue. Police said a man in his 20s was wounded and in critical condition. A white SUV was also peppered with bullets in the neighborhood. No one was arrested.
Also on Tuesday, a Chester police officer was injured while responding to a domestic incident. Around 10:40 a.m. at Ninth Street and Meadow Lane, Lawrence Crews broke down the door of his girlfriend’s home, according to the Delaware County District Attorney’s office.
Officers responded, and authorities said Crews attacked one of them by punching him and using the officer’s own taser to pistol-whip him.
The officer was taken to the hospital and is expected to recover from non-life-threatening injuries, according to Mayor Stefan Roots.
Crews is expected to be charged with burglary and aggravated assault, officials said.
Chester officials assured residents and visitors that these were isolated incidents and that crime in the city has been trending downward.
Chester Mayor Stephan Roots said as tragic as these incidents were, they are outliers in the city that’s seen a dramatic decline of violent and gun-related crimes since rolling out their safe summer initiative a few years back.
“Last summer, June through August, there were zero gun-related homicides,” he said.
And Roots said they’re stepping things up this summer to make sure visitors coming to Chester for World Cup events at Subaru Park have a safe and fun experience.
“For World Cup, there’s going to be added security, of course, from FIFA, from all the soccer organizations and even our local police force,” he said.
Roots said many of the violent incidents that have happened there have been very targeted. They have mainly been one bad actor reacting to another bad actor.
The shooting was the third violent incident police responded to on Tuesday
The shooting was the third violent incident police responded to on Tuesday
