2 killed in separate North Philadelphia shootings

shootings
NATE WILLISON

Two men were killed in separate shootings late Monday and early Tuesday in North Philadelphia, police said.

Officers were called at around 12:45 a.m. Tuesday to the 2900 block of Ridge Avenue in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood, where they found a 55-year-old man unresponsive in the backseat of a minivan, investigators said.

The victim, who had been shot in his head and abdomen, was declared dead at the scene. Authorities have not publicly identified him.

Less than two hours earlier, at around 11 p.m. Monday, gunfire erupted at the corner of Front Street and Hunting Park Avenue in Feltonville, according to police.

Jameel Cooper, 35, who lived in Olney, was taken to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children with a gunshot wound to his chest and died of his injuries a short time later, investigators said.

Police said a second victim, a 21-year-old man, was transported to Temple University Hospital in stable condition, with a graze wound to his abdomen. He has since been released from the hospital.

The shooters fled the scene in a white vehicle, authorities said. No arrest was made in the immediate aftermath of either shooting.

Since the beginning of the year, 232 people have been killed in Philadelphia, a decrease of 22% compared to the same date in 2022, according to police data.