Man hurt in S.W. Phila. playground shooting

A 25-year-old man was shot and critically wounded during a basketball game at a playground Thursday afternoon in Southwest Philadelphia, police said.

About 4:20 p.m., a gunman approached a group of men playing a five-on-five game at James Finnegan Playground, near 68th Street and Lindbergh Boulevard in the Elmwood section, and opened fire, said Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detectives.

The victim was shot in the buttocks and taken by private automobile to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Walker said. No one else was injured at the crowded playground.

The gunman, described as a black man in his early 20s wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt, fled in the direction of 68th and Lindbergh, Walker said. - Robert Moran