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Four men were shot during a drive-by in Mantua, police say

The incident came just 13 hours after two other people were shot on the same block, police said.

A detective and an officer looking at evidence under and around a blue SUV. Philadelphia police investigate and gather evidence at what came out as a quadruple shooting at intersection of N. 38th and Aspen in Mantua section of city on Thursday. Police have made no statements or number count on victims.
A detective and an officer looking at evidence under and around a blue SUV. Philadelphia police investigate and gather evidence at what came out as a quadruple shooting at intersection of N. 38th and Aspen in Mantua section of city on Thursday. Police have made no statements or number count on victims.Read moreALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer

Four men were shot during a drive-by shooting in Mantua on Thursday morning, according to Philadelphia police.

The victims were struck when three people hopped out of a gold or tan SUV at 38th and Aspen Streets at 10:57 a.m. and began firing, Chief Inspector Frank Vanore said. The shooting caused a temporary lockdown of the nearby Morton McMichael School.

Two of the men, ages 32 and 44, were struck several times, while another 32-year-old was shot once in the leg. A 37-year-old man suffered a graze wound to the leg. All were in stable condition at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, police said.

No one was arrested and no weapon was recovered. Police did not provide a description of any possible suspects.

The shooting came just 13 hours after two people were shot on the same block, and one of them died.

Around 9:43 p.m. Wednesday, police said, a 30-year-old woman was killed and an 18-year-old man was left in critical condition after each was struck several times by gunfire.

Police did not identify the deceased victim and did not say if they believed that incident was related to Thursday morning’s gunfire. They provided no motive in Wednesday night’s homicide but said two guns were recovered from the scene: one from the woman who died, and another that was found on the street.

The episodes were part of another violent week in the city.

Between Monday and Wednesday, police statistics show, 36 people were shot — eight fatally. In all, nearly 1,700 people have been shot in the city in 2021, the highest year-to-date total in at least two decades.

In Fern Rock on Monday afternoon, another drive-by shooting left five people wounded and a 26-year-old man dead.

The city’s homicide tally remains on a record pace: 393 people have been slain this year, police statistics show, a 17% increase over the same date last year.