Shooting at vigil for homicide victim leaves 5 wounded

Gunmen in a passing car fired into a crowd Tuesday night that was gathered on a Feltonville street corner to remember a 20-year-old man who was laid to rest earlier in the day after being killed on the same block two weeks ago.

Five people were struck by the gunfire, authorities said, including a 68-year-old man who was shot twice in his face and a 17-year-old boy who sustained a gunshot wound to his leg. The shooting occurred just before 8:45 p.m. at D Street and Wyoming Avenue.

Police said a 23-year-old man was shot in his right thigh; a 23-year-old woman was hit in her left leg; and a 24-year-old woman was struck in her right ankle. All five victims were transported to Temple University Hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries, according to authorities.

Three men inside a white Jeep Cherokee opened fire as the vehicle turned from D Street onto Wyoming, investigators said. The SUV was found a short time later unoccupied on the 5000 block of N. 5th Street in Olney.

Inside the Jeep, investigators said, officers recovered three handguns, one of which was described as a “ghost gun” – a self-assembled firearm lacking a serial number. No arrests have been reported.

The vigil was for Orlando Negron, known as “boi boy,” who was fatally shot July 5 on the 400 block of E. Wyoming Avenue. A 15-year-old boy was also wounded in that shooting, and no suspects have been apprehended, police said.

Negron’s funeral services were held earlier Tuesday, according to an obituary. Outside a corner store at D and Wyoming, a wooden enclosure houses prayer candles, some which remained lit Wednesday morning, for Negron.

A man, who provided only his first name, Dave, and identified himself as Negron’s uncle, briefly stopped at the memorial. He said he was not at the previous night’s vigil; he instead attended a family gathering.

Dave said Negron was killed over an argument and left behind a 2-year-old daughter. “We in a war zone,” he added. “He was a good kid. He just got caught up in the street life.”

A shopkeeper at the corner declined to speak, saying she feared being shot or killed if she talked about the incident.

Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told reporters at the scene Tuesday night that detectives will investigate connections between the two shootings.

Tuesday night’s violence follows the July 3 mass shooting in Kingsessing, which left four people dead and four others wounded. Another victim, 31-year-old Joseph Wamah Jr., was killed by the same gunman nearly 48 hours earlier, according to investigators. Kimbrady Carriker, 40, has been charged in the case.