PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Three people, including a teenage girl, were shot in North Philadelphia early Monday morning. A little before 1 a.m., as a house party on 10th Street was wrapping up, police officers on patrol in the area say they heard about 30 gunshots and then saw dozens of young people running down Jefferson Street.
“When the party dispersed, unknown individuals began shooting in the direction of where the party was letting out,” said Captain Nicholas DeBlasis.
A 17-year-old girl was hit in the chest and a 23-year-old man was hit in the buttocks while outside, police said, but the officers found the victims inside the house.
Both were taken to the hospital. The teen girl was considered to be in “extremely critical condition,” and the man was stable, according to DeBlasis.
Later, police learned of a third victim — a man in his 30s who had been shot in the leg and appeared at the hospital.
Initially, police were not sure of a motive, who was targeted or who pulled the trigger. Police are trying to find surveillance footage from the neighborhood to aid in the investigation.
A dozen shot Saturday and Sunday
That is just the last incident of a weekend wracked with violence. Philadelphia police are investigating several other shootings.
Nine people were shot Saturday after 1:30 a.m. on the 500 block of North Creighton Street in Mill Creek. One man was pronounced dead at 5:40 a.m. Eight others were injured.
The dead man, whom police on Monday identified as 19-year-old Kevin July of Kensington, had multiple gunshot wounds to the face and throughout his body.
Police have not released any additional information, and no suspect has been arrested.
Also on Saturday evening around 7:30 p.m., inside Franklin Mills, a group of robbers entered Javier the Jeweler, distracted the store employees by spraying them with pepper spray, and took sledgehammers to the display cases. It is still unknown how much the thieves escaped with.
No customers were inside at the time of the incident, but the mall was evacuated and closed for the rest of the night. It won't be clear what was stolen until the store does an inventory check.
Besides inflammation and respiratory reactions to the pepper spray, no one was hurt.
Three people were injured Saturday night into Sunday morning from gunfire. All three are in stable condition.
Saturday evening, on the 1800 block of Torresdale Ave at 11:36 p.m., a 20-year-old man was shot in the left thigh. Sunday at 1:39 a.m. on the 200 block of West Cumberland Street a 17-year-old girl was shot once in the left leg. About 20 minutes later, at 1:54 a.m., a 36-year-old man was shot once in the right shoulder.
No arrests have been made in any of the cases. And no weapons have been recovered.