8 students wounded in Philly shooting; police release video of suspects; Northeast High to go virtual rest of week

Eight Northeast High School students were wounded — one critically — in a shooting Wednesday afternoon at one of the city’s busiest intersections in an act that left a SEPTA bus riddled with bullets just a few hours after the agency’s security chief vowed a crackdown on gun violence on mass transit.

No one on the bus or another bus at which shots were fired was injured, but the gun violence, which occurred at the “Five Points” intersection of Rising Sun and Cottman Avenues in the Burholme section of Northeast Philadelphia — less than a mile from the school — came after three fatal shootings near or on SEPTA buses on three consecutive days.

In the wake of the Five Points shooting, Northeast High will operate on a virtual schedule Thursday and Friday, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. announced Wednesday night.

“We are devastated by this afternoon’s senseless act of violence at a busy SEPTA bus stop that impacted several Northeast High School students, leaving eight students wounded. Our deepest sympathies and heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the Northeast High School students involved and to all of the students who witnessed this horrific event,” Watlington said in a statement.

Philadelphia police posted video on social media Wednesday night showing the three shooters and their getaway vehicle before and after they wounded eight Northeast High Students at a bus stop in Burholme.

The video shows a 2019 dark blue Hyundai Sonata parking behind a Dunkin' Donuts at the northwest corner of Rising Sun and Cottman Avenues just before 3 p.m.

A handful of friends and relatives of a 16 year old shot in Northeast Philadelphia awaited updates on their loved one at Jefferson Torresdale Emergency Room Wednesday evening.

The teen, who family said had been shot several times, had been in good spirits as he headed into surgery, they said.

Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan said the Five Points shooting, which came in the same week 17-year-old Dayeman Taylor died leaving Imhotep Charter High School, was “senseless” and its impact on young people and the city at large is “immeasurable.”

“I am praying for each of them, for their families, and for everyone impacted by this horror,” Jordan said of the victims of the Wednesday and Monday shootings. “Our collective hearts break.”

Police on Wednesday evening released updated details on the eight shooting victims — all students at Northeast High School.

A 16-year-old boy was shot nine times and was listed in critical condition.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, speaking in the rain at the scene of the Burholme shooting of eight Northeast High School students, vowed that "enough is enough" and that "we will not be held hostage" by the surge of gun violence in the city this week.

Parker said the city would work with every law-enforcement partner available and said going forward "we don't apologize for using every legal and constitutional tool" to combat the spike in shootings.

City Councilmember Anthony Phillips, whose district borders the site of the shooting in Burholme, on Wednesday called “for an end to violence.”

"I implore all residents of our great city to join hands and break free from the chains of violence," Phillips said in a statement. "We must do better; we must do it now. Our community needs us, and our children deserve a future free from the fear of gun violence. Let us unite and work towards a safer and brighter tomorrow.”

Rain pelted the pavement along Rising Sun Avenue in Burholme Wednesday afternoon, and on a main business corridor, few people were found.

That wasn't because of the downpour. Several blocks of the main thoroughfare were blocked off by police tape, and squad cars dotted corners across the neighborhood.

Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. is at the Five Points shooting scene, and district officials confirmed that the students attend Northeast High.

At least two of the victims are in critical condition, a source said.

As Philadelphia’s transit system has seen a rash of high-profile shootings this week, the neighboring state of New York on Wednesday took drastic measures that officials hope will reduce crime and make riders feel more safe.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday that she would deploy the National Guard and State Police troopers to patrol New York City’s subway platforms and monitor riders.

The shooting Wednesday afternoon in Northeast Philadelphia marks the fourth involving a SEPTA bus in as many days.

Earlier Wednesday, SEPTA officials announced plans to further combat gun violence on mass transit: regularly searching detained suspects for weapons and strictly enforcing lesser criminal violations such as fare evasion, drug use, and mask-wearing.

Police said they are looking for a stolen blue 2018 Hyundai Elantra. The Hyundai emblem on the front grill is missing. The rear license plate has a paper tag that was slipped in over the real license plate. The rear license plate has a Penn State frame.

The vehicle description is based on police reviewing surveillance video in the area of the shooting.

Two SEPTA buses were also struck by gunfire Wednesday in the shooting near a bustling Northeast Philadelphia intersection that wounded at least eight people, SEPTA said.

Around 3 p.m. near Rising Sun Avenue and St. Vincent Street, a bus operator reported hearing gunshots outside the bus, said SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch.

In the last year alone, at least five teens have been shot and killed on or near SEPTA property — targeted during some of the most ordinary moments of life, like riding the bus home from school or the subway to meet friends.

Most recently, 17-year-old Dayemen Taylor and two of his classmates were struck by a flurry of bullets, fired as they stepped onto a bus to head home from school.

Wednesday’s shooting happened at Cottman and Rising Sun at an intersection known locally as Five Points, a busy hub of bus stops and businesses in the city’s Burholme section.

Though it’s not yet known which school or schools the students involved attended, the intersection is less than a mile down the road from Northeast High School, the city’s largest school with over 3,000 students.

At least seven people were wounded in a shooting Wednesday afternoon at a busy intersection in the Burholme section of Northeast Philadelphia, police said.

The victims appeared to be teens and a SEPTA bus also was struck by gunfire. Police said that no one on the bus was hit.