A young child died Sunday afternoon along the 3300 block of North Water Street in North Philadelphia as the result of a triple shooting, ABC reports.
At approximately 3:30p.m. a shooter opened fire on a Kensington home, with bullets striking a 2-year-old girl, her 24-year-old mother and a 33-year-old-man. The child was shot in the back of the head; her mother received gunshots to both the right side and back of her head; and the man was shot in the stomach. The 2-year-old died at the scene while the other two victims were transported to an area hospital. The girl’s mother is said to be in stable condition, while the man’s condition is listed as critical.
This outbreak of violence follows hot on the heels of another horrific incident in the city on Saturday night, when an 11-month-old baby was shot four times inside of a moving vehicle, again in North Philadelphia.
The baby was riding in a car with her grandmother who heard gunfire and exited her vehicle to find the car’s exterior riddled with bullet holes and the baby injured, USA Today reports. Shots struck the back of the baby boy’s head, chest and buttocks, police reported. The unidentified baby remains in critical condition and a $5,000 reward for information on the shooter is being offered by the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5.
Stating his mood as one of outrage, disgust and heartbreak, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney offered the following statement:
“Philadelphians should not live in fear of violence that could take away a child’s life, but for too many this is a sad reality. With the flow of illegal guns and drugs unabated, we must do whatever we can locally to help address this issue. Our administration will have teams in the neighborhoods impacted by this weekend’s violence to provide the resources available, specifically trauma-informed care, and the Police Department is conducting a full investigation and will have whatever resources they need to bring these perpetrators to justice.”
