PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Temple University Police are trying to identify the person who they said fired two gunshots into the air during a gathering of hundreds of young people on Broad Street Saturday night.
Temple police released images of the suspect from the weekend gathering. Hundreds of young people met up in the area of Broad Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, close to Temple’s campus — a gathering that was organized on social media, police said.
Temple police were aware of the meetup ahead of time and alerted Philadelphia police, according to Jennifer Griffin, Temple’s vice president and chief for public safety.
Initially, there were no issues. But around 5:30 p.m., several fights broke out. A TUalert was issued to students, telling them to avoid the area.
Then just before 6 p.m., police heard a gunshot as they were trying to disperse the crowd. Minutes later, there was a second shot, according to police.
Investigators believe the shooter fired the shots into the air and no one was hit. Within an hour, the crowd was gone.
“I saw the moment when a gunshot went off and they all scattered. It was crazy,” Gage Bernstein, a Temple junior, told NBC10. “I haven’t seen anything like that before.”
Seven teens, ranging in age between 13 and 16, were taken into custody in connection with the incident. They were cited for disorderly conduct, police said.
As police search for the alleged shooter, they are also looking at surveillance and cellphone footage to see if anyone else caused trouble during the gathering.