As 2022 comes to a close, Metro is revisiting the top news stories of the year.
While no list can encapsulate everything that happened in Philadelphia in 2022, what follows are some of the more memorable and impactful events of the last 12 months.
Fairmount fire claims 12 lives
Nearly a year ago, on Jan. 5, a blaze that erupted inside a rowhouse on the 800 block of N. 23rd Street in Fairmount killed 12 people, including eight children.
“I don’t have the words for how we’re feeling right now as a community and as a department,” Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy told reporters at the scene.
Authorities determined that the fire was likely caused by a 5-year-old boy who was playing with a lighter near his family’s Christmas tree. He was the only person from the second floor of the property to survive.
The tragedy sparked discussion about a lack of accessible, affordable housing in Philadelphia, since many people were living in the building’s two apartment units.
TJ Siderio, 12, fatally shot by police
On March 1, an undercover police officer fatally shot 12-year-old Thomas “TJ” Siderio Jr. in the back near the corner of 18th and Barbara streets in South Philadelphia after a bullet – probably from the boy’s handgun – smashed through the window of their unmarked car.
Edsaul Mendoza, who allegedly shot TJ after he threw away his gun, was fired from the police department in the days following the shooting and was later charged with murder for his role in the incident.
In October, a judge ordered Mendoza to stand trial for the charges, which include first-degree murder.
I-95 crash leaves 2 troopers dead
Pennsylvania State Troopers Martin “Marty” Mack and Branden Sisca, and 28-year-old Reyes Rivera Oliveras were killed early March 21 after being hit by a speeding car on I-95 near the stadiums in South Philadelphia.
Mack and Sisca were called to that section of the highway after drivers reported seeing Oliveras walking on the roadway.
The driver, 22-year-old Jayana Tanae Webb, was charged with murder and homicide by vehicle. Her case is pending, with a trial tentatively scheduled for December 2023.
New property tax assessments cause concern
Some Philadelphia homeowners were stunned when, in May, the city released its property tax reassessment figures, with total residential values up 31% and far steeper increases in many neighborhoods.
To blunt the sticker shock, Mayor Jim Kenney and City Council reached a budget deal that boosted the Homestead Exemption, a popular tax break for owner-occupied properties, to $80,000, from $45,000.
City Hall also added money to the Longtime Owner Occupants Program fund and reduced business and wage tax rates.
South Street mass shooting leaves 3 dead, 11 injured
During a busy June weekend night on South Street, an altercation between a group of men led to indiscriminate gunfire that killed two bystanders and one of the shooters. Eleven others were hospitalized.
Alexis Quinn, 27, and Kris Minners, 22, were killed in the chaos, during which several people opened fire, including a police officer who was in the area.
Gregory Jackson, who police believe was involved in the fight that led to the shooting, was killed, and at least four people have been charged in connection with the violence.
The shooting raised fears about safety on South Street, long a late-night party destination.
Kenney looks forward to not being mayor
In the aftermath of a July 4 shooting that caused revelers to flee the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Mayor Jim Kenney indicated he was eagerly awaiting his departure from City Hall.
“I’m waiting for something bad to happen all the time,” Kenney told reporters. “So I’ll be happy when I’m not here, when I’m not mayor and I can enjoy some stuff.”
The exchange inspired a few future mayoral candidates to call for his resignation. Kenney, in a statement hours later, characterized his comments as a “late-night, overwhelming moment of frustration.”
Investigators soon determined that the bullets from the shooting, which left two police officers with minor injuries, were likely fired from far away, possibly a mile or more from the Parkway festivities.
Art museum workers go on strike
After voting to unionize in 2020, employees at the Philadelphia Museum of Art decided to go on strike in September in a push for better pay and benefits.
The workers picketed outside the iconic institution, which remained open to visitors, for more than two weeks before union leaders reached an agreement with PMA administrators.
Gunmen ambush football players at Roxborough HS
Following a junior varsity football scrimmage, a group of players were walking from the field at Roxborough High School when five suspects jumped out of a car and fired more than 60 shots.
Nicolas Elizalde, a 15-year-old student at W.B. Saul High School, who detectives have said was not the target of the shooters, was shot in the chest and died from his injuries. Four other teenagers were wounded.
Four people have been arrested and charged in connection with the shooting, and one suspect, 16-year-old Dayron Burney-Thorne, had yet to be apprehended.
Fetterman, Shapiro score election victories
Democrats John Fetterman and Josh Shapiro bested their GOP counterparts, Mehmet Oz and Doug Mastriano, on Election Day.
Both races – but particularly the gubernatorial contest – took on new urgency in June after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which provided for a nationwide right to abortion. Shapiro has vowed to protect the procedure’s legality in Pennsylvania.
Fetterman, who suffered a stroke just before the May primary, helped Democrats hold onto control of the U.S. Senate.
State house impeaches Larry Krasner
District Attorney Larry Krasner, on Nov. 16, became the first elected official impeached in Pennsylvania in nearly 30 years.
The state House of Representatives approved seven articles of impeachment – largely along party lines – accusing Krasner of “misconduct in office.” Krasner has painted the GOP-led effort as unconstitutional and an attempt to subvert the will of Philadelphia voters.
A trial in the state Senate is set to begin next month, and Krasner is challenging the legality of the impeachment in court.
‘Boy in the Box’ mystery revealed
New details emerged in the 65-year-old cold case concerning the “Boy in the Box,” one of Philadelphia’s longest-running homicide investigations.
Police on Dec. 8 identified the deceased child found in Fox Chase in 1957 as 4-year-old Joseph Augustus Zarelli. Detectives and forensic genealogists used DNA to find and contact the boy’s relatives.
How Joseph died and who was responsible for his killing remains unclear. Authorities declined to identify his parents, both of whom they said are dead.
