Philadelphia surpasses 200 homicides for the year

A spate of violence plagued Philadelphia Tuesday, when at least five people were killed and seven injured in eight separate shootings andstabbings. Among those slain were local rapper Meek Mill’s cousin.

As of Wednesday morning, the city’shomiciderate swelled to 203 for the year, up 11percent from the year-to-datetally in 2015.

One of the shootings, which occurred at about 10 p.m. in South Philly killed 21-year-old Angelo Colon, Mill’s cousin. Colon was shot on the 1800 block of Snyder Avenue, as was a 27-year-old man who sustained wounds to his legs, police said.

The Philly-born rapper expressed his grief in an Instagram post early Wednesday morning, saying his ” mission is to save my family from these streets and change the mindframe of all my lil cousins growing up in it!!!!#RIPLO“

Tuesday’s mayhem began in West Philly, where a 25-year-old man sustained several gunshot wounds just after 9 a.m.Tuesday at 52nd Street and Wyalusing Avenue. He was being treated at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.

Bloodshed continued at around 12:40 p.m. at a northeast home, when two people were found stabbed to death. Police found the bodies of aman and a woman in what was believed to be a murder-suicide at a home on the 12000 block of Elmore Road near Woodhaven. The female homeowner was found near the front door, and sources say the man, her boyfriend, was found in the kitchen.

At about the same time in Kensington,gunfire erupted on Thayer Street near Kensington Avenue, wounding three people on the block. A pregnant woman was critically wounded to the stomach and head, and two men were also listed in critical condition. All three were transported to Temple University Hospital.

There have been no arrests, and a motive is currently unknown. Police are not sure if the victims were the intended targets.

Later in Kensington, on the 2900 block of North Howard Street, a 33-year-old man was shot several times near the front door of his house.A Verizon worker, who was driving near by, rushed the victim, Edwin Cartagena, to the hospital, but doctors could not save him.

Police described the suspect as a medium-build male with a white shirt;he ran north on Howard Street after the shooting. They believe the shooting was narcotics-related.

Cartagena was apparently on the street doing something on hiscellphonewhen the suspect approached him and opened fire.

Just after 7:36 p.m., police found Darryl Singleton, 24, in an alleyway in Southwest Philly near the 5800 block of Hoffman Avenuewith a gunshot wound to his head. Policerushed Singleton,who lives on that block, to the hospital, where doctorspronounced him dead minutes later.

On the 1500 block of North Frazier Street in West Philly, a 24-year-old man was shot in the back just before 9 p.m. He was listed in stable condition at Penn Presbyterian, and police have reported one arrest and have recovered the weapon.

Around 9:10 p.m. in West Oak Lane, a man, 27, was shot twice in the back on the 6600 block of North Opal Street. He was taken to the hospital in stable condition, and there have been no arrests.