PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Authorities are looking for the gunmen who shot and killed a 16-year-old boy Tuesday in Northeast Philadelphia — and for a woman in her 30s who they say gunned down a 15-year-old girl in North Philly just hours later.
Jamil Wyatt, 16, was shot four times in the city's Oxford Circle neighborhood, just a couple of blocks away from Laura H. Carnell Elementary School, according to police. Wyatt was rushed to Jefferson Frankford Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Just after 4 p.m., Wyatt was walking near Van Kirk Street, not far from Oxford Avenue, when three suspects wearing ski masks and black clothing suddenly began to chase him, firing guns, said Staff Inspector Ernest Ransom, commander of the Philadelphia Police Department Homicide Unit.
"He then falls to the ground, and the shooters begin to shoot again as he is on the ground," Ransom said.
The trio took off in a white 2013 Nissan Sentra with tinted windows.
Ransom said investigators collected 60 spent cartridge casings from the scene.
"It's sad. It has to stop. We have to find a way to get the guns off the street. But importantly, if you know something, you gotta say something and tell us what's going on."
A few hours later in the city's Logan neighborhood, police said, a 15-year-old girl was targeted, shot in the neck while outside her home. She is critically injured at Albert Einstein Hospital.
Police think she was standing outside on West Loudon Street, near North Broad Street. Investigators said there was an altercation on the street and, around 8:20 p.m., someone in a dark gray Chevy Malibu driving by shot at her. The car was last seen traveling east on Loudon.
Investigators believe the shooter is a woman with whom the girl had an ongoing dispute or argument. Police are now looking for that woman.
"The individual who shot we believe is in her 30s, and may have shot at her and, we believe, some others," said Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore.
Both investigations are ongoing. No one has been arrested. Anyone with information on either shooting is asked to send an anonymous tip via text or phone to 215-686-8477. Tips can also be submitted anonymously online.
As with all homicides in Philadelphia, there is a $20,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
