Three people were killed in Philadelphia in less than 24 hours over the weekend
Police continue to investigate the crimes, and no arrests have been made.
Three people were killed in Philadelphia in less than 24 hours over the weekend, a striking spate of violence in a year that has seen homicides fall in the city and across the country.
Shortly before 11:30 p.m. Sunday, police responded to the 900 block of North 47th Street in West Philadelphia for a report of a person with a gun and found a 48-year-old man lying in the backyard of his home with gunshot wounds to the head, police said.
The man, whom police did not identify, was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:32 p.m., police said.
Police found shell casings from two different guns: six 9mm shell casings, one .223 casing, and two live .223 rifle rounds.
No arrests have been made and no weapon has been recovered, police said. A motive for the shooting was not immediately clear.
Hours earlier, just after 2:34 p.m., police responded to a shooting on the unit block of West Ritner Street, near Front Street in South Philadelphia, police said. Officers arrived at the scene and found a 55-year-old man inside a silver BMW with a single gunshot wound to the back of his head, police said.
Medics pronounced him dead at the scene at 2:50 p.m. Police later identified the man as Assem H. Hijazi, of the 1100 block of McKean Street.
Police believe Hijazi was about to get out of the car when he was shot, said Police Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore.
No arrests have been made and no weapon was recovered. Police are looking through surveillance footage to identify people who had been in the area at the time of the shooting, Vanore said.
And early Sunday morning, a 22-year-old man was shot and killed outside a North Philadelphia bar after he was asked to leave and came back with a gun, Vanore said.
Police responded to the scene outside 809 Sports Bar, on the 3400 block of North Second Street, around 2:40 a.m. and found the man, whom police did not identify, lying in the street with a gunshot wound to his head. He was taken to Temple University Hospital and pronounced dead just before 3 a.m., police said.
Earlier, police said, security guards told the man to leave the bar, for reasons that are unclear. He later returned with a gun, they said, and during a confrontation with security guards, one of them shot him, Vanore said. Two handguns and a knife were recovered at the scene, he said.
Police continue to investigate, and no arrests had been made.
The weekend violence comes at a time when homicides and shootings are falling in the city and beyond. As of Sunday, there had been 33 homicides in Philadelphia this year, down from 50 at the same time last year, data shows.
At a Monday news conference, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner lamented the three killings while pledging to continue working to keep homicides on a downward trend.
“We never want to see any homicides at all,” he said. “Having three in one day is very disturbing. But having said that, the larger trends are what they are and we can only hope and try to keep them going in the right direction as we move forward.”
Anyone with information on any of the shootings is asked to call the police department’s homicide unit at 215-686-3334 or to submit tips anonymously through the department’s tip line at 215-686-8477.