One man died, and five others were hospitalized after gunfire raged throughout Philly Wednesday.
Philly PD reports that two men were shot in the 100 block N. Ruby Street at around 5 p.m. One of the victims was in his 30’s and was shot in the right hip and placed in stable condition.
However, the other victim was not as lucky; after being shot twice in the chest, his condition is listed as critical.
About twenty minutes later, gunfire rang out in the Strawberry Mansion area of Philly. Three men were shot. The men were shot at 2600 W. Lehigh Ave, on the highway.
One of the victims was a 16-year-old man, who was shot twice in the abdomen, and he was transported to Temple Hospital by police and was placed in critical condition.
A 25-year-old male was shot six times throughout his body and was also transported to Temple Hospital, where he is listed as critical condition.
A third man who was 20 years old was shot multiple times; he was transported to Temple Hospital and was pronounced dead at 5:45 p.m. At this time were no weapons collected.
ABC reports that police say everything was captured on video for this incident.
“You see several people fleeing from the scene. You see, at least two of the victims immediately collapse,” Chief Inspector Scott Small told outlets with the Philadelphia Police Department.
Small added that “Luckily, no employees or customers inside the store were struck by the gunfire.”
At around 6:40 on Wednesday night, on the 2500 block of South Dewey Street. A 21-year-old man was shot four times in his left leg. This victim was taken to Presbyterian Hospital by a private vehicle. The victim was reported to be in stable condition.
“We’re trying to drive our patrols to areas where we predict retaliation or evidence of ongoing crime. We’re shaking people loose, putting out everybody we can and have a bigger uniform presence at those locations,” Acting Police Commissioner Christine Coulter told outlet earlier this week.
No arrests have been made regarding the shootings at this time. This violence has residents on edge.
Anti-violence advocate Dawud Bey, who lost family to violence in Philly, spoke to ABC about gun violence in Philly.
“If I could give an explanation on why all the violence is going on in Philadelphia, I’d be a billionaire. But at the end of the day, we gotta figure out what are the issues that’s plaguing our youth, what is it that we can do to tie the elders and the youth because it’s a big gap,” Bey explained to the outlet.
After Wednesday night, the total amount of homicide victims keep growing. There have been over 20 victims of homicide in Philly this year, and it’s only halfway through January 2020.
