Two young people were shot as hundreds gathered at Fairmount Park’s Belmont Plateau
As between 200 and 300 young people gathered at Belmont Plateau early Sunday morning, a car drove up and fired into the crowd, injuring a 19-year-old woman and 20-year-old man, police said.
A drive-by shooter fired into a crowd of hundreds of young people gathered at Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park early Sunday morning, injuring two, police said.
Between 200 and 300 people had gathered at the popular spot on Belmont Mansion Drive when a dark-colored sedan drove up just before 1:30 a.m., police said.
Philadelphia Police Capt. Anthony Ginaldi told NBC10 someone in the car directed the crowd to disperse before the shooter opened fire.
A 19-year-old woman was shot twice, in her right shoulder and back. A private car took her to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition, police said.
Separately, a private car drove a 20-year-old man to Temple University Hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound to his left leg and was in stable condition, police said.
Police did not know the motive for the shooting and had not made any arrests by late Sunday afternoon. The investigation is continuing, said police spokeswoman Tanya Little.
Police were also still investigating the shooting Saturday of a 71-year-old man and his 5-year-old grandson while they were passengers in a white Nissan Maxima traveling in Southwest Philadelphia. Earlier reports had erroneously said the man and child had been walking when they were shot.
Police said the child’s father was driving the Nissan on 61st Street when someone in a white Kia started shooting at him from behind shortly before 6 p.m., and continued firing as he pulled the bullet-riddled Nissan into an Exxon station at 61st Street and Passyunk Avenue. The Kia then fled west on Passyunk, police said.
The grandfather suffered a single gunshot wound to his lower back. Police took him to Penn Presbyterian, where he was listed in critical condition Sunday. The 5-year-old boy was in stable condition at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia with a graze wound to his shoulder, police said.
Police later found an unoccupied white Kia K5 in the back of a property in the 6100 block of Buist Avenue. The Kia had a Florida license plate and had been previously reported stolen in a robbery at Philadelphia International Airport.
More than 100 children have been shot in Philadelphia this year — including 14 under age 12 — and 18 have died.