A boy and girl, ages 10 and 11, and 3 others wounded by gunfire outside rec center in West Philly
It was the third city shooting in less than a week with four or more victims that included children.
A 10-year-old boy, an 11-year-old girl, and three other people were wounded by gunfire Wednesday afternoon outside a recreation center in West Philadelphia, police said.
It was the third city shooting in less than a week with four or more victims that included children.
Shortly after 4 p.m., police responded to a reported shooting in the area of 56th and Christian Streets outside the Christy Recreation Center, next to the public swimming pool.
Police transported the two youngest victims, who had graze wounds, to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said at a news conference at the rec center.
A 16-year-old boy with several gunshot wounds was taken by private vehicle to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania-Cedar Avenue, then transferred to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, police said. He was listed in critical condition.
On Wednesday night, police reported that a second 16-year-old boy had been shot and was in stable condition at Penn Presbyterian.
A 32-year-old man, who was described as a worker at the recreation center, suffered at least one graze wound, police said.
The suspected shooter and several other juveniles who were with him fled the scene, police said.
Bethel said there had been a fight earlier at the rec center that was broken up by staff and a police officer who was there on a detail.
Individuals who apparently were involved in the fight returned and started shooting at people on 56th Street, not at people who were in the pool, which happens to be close to the corner, Bethel said
The rec center will remain closed for the remainder of the week, a spokesperson for Philadelphia Parks and Recreation said in an email Wednesday night.
In 2022, a Philadelphia Parks and Recreation worker, Tiffany Fletcher, was killed by a stray bullet at the Mill Creek Recreation Center.
“It’s difficult for me today, because I grew up here,” Bethel said at the Christy center Wednesday.
“That is a pool that I grew up in. I lived only two blocks away,” he said, recalling that the rec center and pool were “always a safe place” for children.
“This is a stain on the city’s soul whenever we see gun violence of any kind, but I’m tired of thoughts and prayers at moments like this, because they seem so deficient,” Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said at the news conference.
“It is not enough. It shouldn’t happen and it shouldn’t occur, and I don’t apologize for telling you we’re going to do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen in the future,” Parker said.
Said State Rep. Rick Krajewski (D., Philadelphia): “I just hope this doesn’t deter people’s faith in public spaces. It’s places like this that need it the most.”
At the scene, lifelong West Philadelphia resident Eli Mount expressed shock at the situation.
“That could have been my daughter,” Mount said.
Several Philadelphia shootings have left young people wounded in recent days.
On Saturday night, a 7-year-old girl sustained a graze wound to the head in a quadruple shooting that left two men dead in the city’s Nicetown section. A 26-year-old woman, the girl’s mother, was reported in stable condition after being shot several times.
On Thursday, gunfire during a graduation party in North Philadelphia critically injured four people, including a 36-year-old woman and her two children.
Wednesday’s shooting comes as violence across the city is near historic lows. So far this year, 133 people have been killed in homicides, the lowest number in more than 50 years. Shootings have fallen by more than 50% compared with four years ago, during the height of the city’s violence crisis.
Violence, though, has spiked in July, a summer month that typically brings an increase in shootings. Just one shooting has a vast impact on victims, families, and the wider community.
And although the total number of juveniles shot this year has reduced markedly over prior years, particularly during the height of the city’s violence in 2021, young people have made up an increasing number of overall shooting victims over the last decade.
Kids under 18 accounted for only 6% of gunshot victims in 2015, whereas they made up about 13% of victims last year and about 12% so far this year, according to shooting data.