PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Queen Village residents called out top Philadelphia leadership and demanded answers at a neighborhood meeting Wednesday night in response to the mass shooting on South Street that left three people dead.
People came prepared with questions for Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw and District Attorney Larry Krasner about what happened over the weekend, as well as the future of patrols, arrests and public safety in the area.
Neighbors said they witness disorderly conduct on a regular basis but feel there’s no action from officers.
A big complaint is ATVs and other motorized bikes cruising around, as well as the reckless activity happening in the streets. Officials said they can issue citations, which means the perpetrator would have to go to court. But depending on the situation, sometimes there’s a delay getting officers to respond, Outlaw said, because more need to be present.
“We will be enforcing quality of life issues when we can. Now, don’t forget, officer safety is also an issue. And when we have crowd sizes — what we had last Saturday — what we might be able to do back in the day, send one officer in … we might not be able to do that,” she said.
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She acknowledged Saturday’s deadly shooting should not be commonplace.
“I don’t want us to walk away thinking that what happened last week was the norm. It wasn’t,” she said. “It was an anomaly. These were two people that decided, in their mind, that they got into a fight and they pulled out their guns and … didn’t care about the hundreds of people around them.”
One resident asked Krasner if he supports the Philadelphia Police Department. He replied: “I support anyone, police or civilian, who does the right thing, who follows the law, who respects people’s constitutional rights.”
Outlaw added she will bolster patrols, but the department is also working to come up with long-term solutions, noting that Philadelphia has fewer officers than in years past.
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