5 juveniles arrested after shots fired in Center City’s Market East area; guns and spent shells recovered, police said

Philadelphia police said they arrested five juveniles Sunday evening after hearing gunshots in a Center City area often busy with shoppers and tourists.

Officers on duty in the area of 10th and Market Streets around 5:45 p.m. heard several shots and ran toward them, ultimately apprehending a juvenile male at Ninth and Chestnut who dropped a bag containing a gun, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw announced on Twitter.

Officers stopped another juvenile male in the area and found a second gun with an extended magazine, Outlaw said.

Police said they also found five fired cartridge casings in the rear alley of the Robert N.C. Nix Sr. Federal Building and Courthouse, located on the southwest corner of Ninth and Market Streets, and four casings on the north side of Market Street at that intersection.

The Market East area includes the Fashion District shopping mall, where the Sixers have proposed building a new arena.

No injuries were reported. Outlaw said five juveniles were arrested. She lauded her officers’ work on Twitter and vowed intolerance for violence.

“Those who take part in violent behavior will be apprehended; our residents and visitors will not be intimidated, and our officers will not be deterred,” she tweeted.

The incident occurred during a holiday weekend marked by gun violence, including 10 people shot, three fatally, within the first seven hours of Saturday, and at least seven people shot from shortly before midnight Saturday into Sunday evening, including a woman who was hit 10 times and survived, and a 19-year-old male who was shot eight times and died. No arrests were reported in those incidents.