PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Police are searching for a teenager wanted in connection with a shooting outside a West Philadelphia recreation center Wednesday that wounded five people, including two children, two teens and a city worker.
According to police, a fight occurred Wednesday afternoon at the Christy Recreation Center at 56th and Christian streets. Staff members broke it up, but officials said the people involved returned just after 4 p.m. Shots were then fired outside the pool.
A 10-year-old boy, an 11-year-old girl and a 32-year-old staff member all suffered graze wounds. Two 16-year-old boys were hit; one of them is critical.
Police released new video Friday of a boy, believed to be between 15 and 18 years old, seen fleeing the scene after the shooting in a du-rag and black t-shirt. He then went to an alley on the 800 block of South 55th Street, where he changed into a white tank top and removed his du-rag.
He was last seen with a black Nike backpack, wearing a white tank top, dark blue shorts, high white socks and sneakers, attempting to board a SEPTA trolley at 55th Street and Baltimore Avenue.
Police say he has shoulder-length dreadlocks with frosted tips. If you see him, call 911. Anonymous tips can be submitted to 215-686-8477.
Curbing violent crime
Philadelphia police will launch Summer Night Lights on Monday, Aug. 4, at 4 p.m. at Winchester Recreation Center on North 15th Street.
It’s a public safety and community building initiative aimed at reducing violence and promoting engagement in North Philadelphia, one of the areas police say is most impacted by violent crime in the city.
Friday morning, three teens were shot, one of them fatally, at North 18th and West Huntingdon streets around 2 a.m. About a half hour earlier, a man was shot and killed on the 1700 block of West Huntingdon Street.
The program will run five days a week for five weeks at the Winchester and Penrose recreation centers. It will feature “mentorship and environmental improvements to key neighborhoods, transforming local recreation centers into vibrant, safe gathering spaces,” police say.
"We are here to make it a safe space, but we are also going to be here with them, to be a part of the fabric of this community, to show folks when we work together, we can make this neighborhood rise,” said Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel.