Police now believe Grays Ferry mass shooting wasn’t a targeted attack, and victims were shot by partygoers firing aimlessly

Philadelphia police say they now believe a mass shooting at a party in Grays Ferry last month was not a targeted attack, and that the 12 people shot were struck by bullets fired by partygoers who, after hearing what they thought was the sound of gunfire, pulled out their weapons and aimlessly started shooting.

Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said detectives, based on witness interviews and evidence at the scene, believe that people heard a shot fired — though it’s not clear who fired it, where, or at what they were shooting. Investigators, he said, have not recovered video showing the first shot fired.

The detectives’ theory, he said, is that someone at the gathering shot once into the air or toward a car or person passing by. The sound then triggered a half a dozen men, believing they were under fire, to pull out their weapons and spray more than 110 shots indiscriminately down the block.

“Someone fired a gun, and then, contagiously, multiple people started firing guns,” Vanore said. “I don’t even know they were 100% positive what they were shooting at.”

Police believe that all of the people wounded and killed were struck by shots fired by partygoers, he said.

“It’s not like there’s a shoot-out here,” he said. “Though maybe some of them thought there was.”

It was, instead, young people firing aimlessly into the night.

Three people were killed. Zahir Wylie, 23, of Overbrook, was struck in the chest, and Jason Reese, 19, of West Philadelphia, was shot in the head. Azir Harris, 27, who used a wheelchair after being paralyzed in a prior shooting, was struck in the back.

The wounded ranged in age from 15 to 24. Among them was the mother of Harris’ 1-year-old son, shot multiple times as the couple was trapped between two parked cars as bullets were fired from behind them.

Vanore said all of the fired cartridge casings recovered at the scene were found in the middle of the block, where Ring camera footage shows the partygoers were shooting from. No casings were found at the end of the block they were shooting toward, he said.

That suggests that no one shot into the gathering, he said, though it’s always possible someone used a revolver, which does not automatically eject casings like some other guns, or that people picked up the evidence before fleeing.

Police are still awaiting the test results of ballistic evidence recovered from the scene and from victims’ bodies to know how many guns were fired, the types of weapons used, and which shots killed each victim. A preliminary report on the shell casings initially collected at the scene included those fired from a 9mm, 10mm, and .40- and .45-caliber guns.

Ring footage from the block showed that, as terrified partygoers dove to the ground and took cover behind cars and on porches, at least six young men stood up, pulled out their guns, and fired down the block. The video appeared to show at least one shooter with a switch on his gun, a device that allows a firearm to shoot at a faster rate. The gun was firing so quickly he appeared to struggle to maintain control of it.

No one has been arrested for the crime, but Vanore said investigators have strong leads. Police on Friday released another set of images of people they believed to be involved, including one man who police said may go by the name “Doo.”