PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Three people are dead and at least 11 others are wounded by gunfire after a mass shooting along South Street Saturday night.
At a Sunday afternoon press conference with other high-ranking law enforcement officials, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said it happened around 11:30 p.m. Police heard multiple gunshots near Fourth and South streets. Two officers stationed at Second Street made their way to Fourth and saw several people already shot.
According to Outlaw, one of the officers saw an unknown man firing into the crowd from half a block away. That officer fired several times at the gunman, and police believe the gunman was hit. However, he was able to flee.
Police released the identities of two of the fatalities, 25-year-old Alexis Quinn and 34-year-old Gregory Jackson.
A third person killed was identified by the American Federation of Teachers as 22-year-old Kristopher Minners, a resident advisor at Girard College.
"Our thoughts are with Mr. Minners' family who woke up this morning missing someone at their breakfast table, his colleagues who will be without a friend, and his students who will be without a mentor and a role model," said the union.
Authorities believe one of the three fatalities was involved in a physical confrontation with another man, which may have sparked the shooting. "These individuals eventually began firing at one another," said Outlaw, "with both being struck, one fatally."
The other two fatalities, along with the other victims, are believed to be bystanders and not connected to that altercation.
Officials said there were dozens of bullet casings found along South Street between Second and Fourth streets. A bloody jacket and a sandal were also collected as evidence.
"You can imagine there were hundreds of individuals just enjoying South Street as they do every single weekend when a shooting broke out," said Police Inspector D.F. Pace.
One of them was Eric Rosso. He was leaving a concert at the Theatre of Living Arts when the incident unfolded. "As I started to exit the venue, you heard kind of three loud 'pop, pop, pops,' three or four of them right in a row," he recalled.
"You could hear people yelling back and forth, 'Were these fireworks? Were these gunshots?' And then three or four came by again, and you could see sparks starting to ricochet off the street. And that's when I started running down one of the side streets."
Pace said two semi-automatic handguns were recovered. One of those weapons had an extended magazine. Investigators are in the process of requesting video surveillance footage from area businesses, as well as combing through social media.
Related
Police revealed there were also shots fired nearly 40 minutes earlier, just a block away, on Fourth and Bainbridge streets. No one was struck. Another shooting on the 500 block of South Broad Street just after 1 a.m. claimed the life of a 20-year-old man. Investigators are unsure if those two incidents are connected to the mass shooting.
Mayor Jim Kenney was not at the Sunday afternoon press conference, as he was in Reno, Nevada, for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. In a conversation with KYW Newsradio, he said there was an expanded police presence in the city Saturday night, owing to events including Philly Pride and the Roots Picnic.
"The argument that we need more police is difficult," he said, "because there were police there."
Kenney instead focused on the proliferation of firearms as the main factor behind the tragedy. "If you remove the guns, you have a fistfight and no one's dead."
He also placed blame on state lawmakers, saying his hands are tied legislatively because of regulations prohibiting Pennsylvania municipalities from passing their own gun laws. "That's why we're in state court right now, trying to get the power to implement some of our own gun regulations," said Kenney.
District Attorney Larry Krasner tweeted a brief statement, calling for a boycott of the National Rifle Association.
When asked about the shooting on Sunday's "Face the Nation," Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey gave pointed remarks about the "complex and multifaceted" problem of gun violence.
He indirectly also referenced Krasner, whose term as district attorney has included stopping the prosecution of some low-level crimes and asking judges in some instances for lighter sentences.
"In some cases, criminality in our big cities has escalated enormously. There's a lot of factors contributing to that," he said. "In some cases, it's district attorneys who think it's their job to make sure no one goes to jail. Then, of course, we have these horrific, sensational massacres, where a young man clearly has just gone off the rails and is deranged."
Kenney also said some perpetrators of violent crime "think there's no consequences to carrying illegal handguns."
'Out of control'
A makeshift memorial of flowers, candles and notes sat at the corner of Third and South streets Monday morning. One letter reads, “I am sorry your life ended here and I am praying for your families and gun policy CHANGE!”
Business owners and residents say the lawlessness that goes on in the area is only getting worse. Mohan Parmar, owner of Indian Kitchen Lavash near Third and South, said something needs to be done to curb the increased crime in the area — and fast.
“This is unusual, yes,” he said of the mass shooting, “but it has been going on for a while. I think The city and the South Street Headhouse District as well as the police, they are trying very hard. But these kids aren’t afraid of anything. People are not afraid of the police. Most of the time I felt safe, but now I feel very awkward to it. I don’t know how we are going to continue our business like that.”
Larry Sechuk has lived in the neighborhood for more than 40 years. In recent years, he’s seen the area turn into mayhem.
“If you’re a resident, you don’t come up here after 8 o’clock at night because … it kind of turns into Thunderdome,” he said. “The people that are on the street, it’s crazy. It’s not safe.
“The problem is, it doesn’t stay on South Street. It spills over south and it spills over north into those communities.”
Many others said that violent crime is becoming commonplace, and leaders and community members need to find solutions.
Councilmember Mark Squilla, who represents the South Street Headhouse District, called for "drastic measures" to stop the violence. "We should close the street at a specific time until we are able to efficiently protect the business, residents and visitors," he said.
Authorities urge anyone with information to call 215-686-TIPS. There is a $20,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest.
KYW Newsradio's Nina Baratti, Dave Uram and Andre Bennett contributed to this story.
Stay with KYW Newsradio for more as this story develops.
