After hours of fear, terrified parents comfort children after day-care lockdown near North Philly police shooting
Precious Babies staffers said they had hunkered down with the children in a stairwell at the center of the building to protect them from stray bullets. It was a scenario they had trained for, they said.
Police officers carried babies and mothers comforted shaken children as a day care on the block where the North Philadelphia shooting occurred was evacuated Wednesday evening.Read moreAUBREY WHELAN / Staff (custom credit)
An afternoon of terror for dozens of parents came to an end with kisses, tears, and tight embraces Wednesday evening as their children were evacuated from the Precious Babies day care, a North Philadelphia facility that was under lockdown for more than three hours as a gunman holed up in a nearby house shot six police officers before surrendering to authorities after midnight.
“I’m just happy I got my daughter,” said Shere Calhoun, smoothing her 8-year-old’s hair. “I didn’t want her to be a victim.”
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Precious Babies staffers said they had hunkered down with the children in a stairwell at the center to protect them from stray bullets. It was a scenario they had trained for, they said.
“We had to stay calm and collected and get the children calm,” one said, declining to give her name.
Shortly after 7 p.m., police had set up two city buses near the day-care center on the 1400 block of West Erie Avenue to hold children whose parents hadn’t yet arrived to pick them up. Other parents rushed frantically down the block, asking after their children at the bus doors.
"Calm down, calm down,” an officer called to another parent running down the block. “The kids are safe.”
Molly Jones held her 2-year-old, Tyshaun, tightly. She was planning to walk to the day care and pick him up after coming home from work when squad cars came flying down her block — and then police officers began cordoning off streets. Panicked, Jones called the day care and got a busy signal — and then staffers called her, saying they and the kids were sheltering in place.
It was small comfort: “The glass windows at the day care …” Jones said, trailing off. “And bullets go through walls.”
Jones and a friend waited nervously for hours, asking police officers for updates, until they received word that their children were being evacuated to Germantown and Erie. They ran to the intersection, and turned around and sprinted again when an officer corrected them: Their kids were at Broad and Erie.
On the corner, Jones gripped Tyshaun, still trying to catch her breath. “I’m still really nerve-racked. I’m really trying to get it together,” she said. “I’m sure my baby is OK — but he’s not used to any of this.”
She then answered her cellphone: A relative was on the other end. “You got him? You got him?” the caller asked in a tense voice. “Yeah,” Jones said. “I got him.”
Sabrina Hall was in a class at nursing school when a family member called to tell her there was a shooting on the block where her 5-year-old, Savion, attends day care. What went through her mind?
“Everything,” she said. “You’re scared. They’re right there on the corner. You don’t know what could be happening.”
A family member who works at the day care kept her updated as best she could, she said. The family has lived in the neighborhood for years, but they’ve never experienced anything like this before, Hall said.
“I’m ready to get my son home and talk to him,” she said. “But I don’t know what I’m going to say.”
Tiffany Burris held her 3-year-old son, Tyaan, who waved to a friend who passed by in the arms of his mother. Tyaan looked at Burris and cocked his head, confused.
“There was a shooting by your day care,” she said gently. “You don’t understand. You’re only 3.”
At 3:30 a.m. the suspect, Maurice Hill, was walked from Temple University Hospital's emergency room to a Philadelphia Police van. Hill is allegedly responsible for shooting six Philadelphia police officers in the North Philly area.Read moreELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer
Police gather on 15th Street in North Philadelphia, as a standoff with at least one gunman continued into Wednesday night.Read moreTIM TAI / Staff Photographer
Investigators gather at the shooting scene on 15th Street near Erie Avenue on Thursday.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
A police officer stands near a “Strike Force” vehicle Thursday. The car was in front of the house at the shooting scene on 15th Street near Erie Avenue.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
A woman and two children walk toward the Precious Babies Learning Academy near the shooting scene Thursday. They were turned away at 15th and Erie Avenue outside the daycare center.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
Police and investigators work behind the house on the 3700 block of N. 15th St. at the scene of yesterday's standoff in North Philadelphia where six police officers were wounded in North Philadelphia.Read moreMARGO REED / Staff Photographer
Police officers and community members talk on the 3700 block of Sydenham street, behind the scene of Wednesday's standoff in North Philadelphia.Read moreMARGO REED / Staff Photographer
Ali Bey, 42, a barber at Kut Creator, talks about Wednesday's shooting while he works near the scene the next day.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
Naomi Pettit, 21, holds her daughter, Mylah Robinson, 2, as she passes Precious Babies Learning Academy Thursday near the shooting scene. Pettit and her daughter live on the 3700 block of 15th Street and Mylah attends the daycare.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
A neighbor watches from his home at 15th and Butler while police and SWAT team members wait Wednesday.Read moreHEATHER KHALIFA / Staff Photographer
Police wait at the scene Wednesday on Erie Avenue near where multiple police officers were shot.Read moreTIM TAI / Staff Photographer
Police gather at 16th St. and Erie Ave. Wednesday after several officers were shot while serving a search warrant.Read moreTIM TAI / Staff Photographer
Standoff suspect Maurice Hill, 36 was taken away in this police wagon Wednesday.Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross Jr. speaks to the media at the emergency entrance of Temple University Hospital on Wednesday.Read moreJOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photographer
Neighborhood residents and onlookers gather along 15th Street south of Erie Avenue, where six police officers were shot in a confrontation with at least one gunman Wednesday in the Tioga section of North Philadelphia.Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer
Police officers escort an unidentified bystander away from the scene Wednesday after she ran behind the police tape to get closer to activity along 15th Street south of Erie Avenue, where six police officers were shot in a confrontation with gunmen in the Tioga section of North Philadelphia.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Armed officers outside Temple University Hospital on Wednesday. Police officers shot in North Philadelphia were sent to the hospital for treatment.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Philadelphia Police secure Germantown Avenue near Temple University Hospital on Wednesday.Read moreJOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photographer
Police officers crouch behind cruisers parked along 15th Street, south of Erie Avenue, where six police officers were shot in a confrontation with at least one gunman on Wednesday in the Tioga section of North Philadelphia.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Bystanders gather around a stopped SEPTA bus at 16th St. and Erie Ave. after several officers were shot in the area Wednesday.Read moreTIM TAI / Staff Photographer
People watch from windows inside the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University as the building on North Broad Street was locked down because of the nearby shooting.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Brian Breazeale, 50, talks near the shooting scene on 15th Street near Erie Avenue in Philadelphia, PA on August 15, 2019.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
Neighbors watch from window along 15th Street south of Erie Avenue, where six police officers were shot in a confrontation.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
District Attorney Larry Krasner leaves the scene where several Philadelphia Police officers were shot.Read moreTIM TAI / Staff Photographer
Jim Kenney, Mayor of Philadelphia speaks to the media at the Emergency entrance of Temple University Hospital after multiple police were shot in North Philadelphia.Read moreJOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photographer
Police officers and community members talk on the 3700 block of Sydenham street, behind the scene of yesterday's standoff in North Philadelphia where six cops were wounded in North Philadelphia Thursday, August 15, 2019.Read moreMARGO REED / Staff Photographer
Heavily armed Police officers are on the scene at 15th Street and Erie Avenue after six police officers were shot in a confrontation with gunmen in the Tioga section of North Philadelphia.Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer
Police escort children from the scene of a confrontation in which at least one gunman shot several Philadelphia Police officers.Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer
Police move as gunfire is heard at the scene at 15th Street and Erie Avenue August 14, 2019, after six police officers were shot in a confrontation with a gunman in the Tioga section of North Philadelphia.Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer
Six Philadelphia Police shot. 3700 block of N. 15th street, A scuffle with this man at 15th and Pacific after police were looking for a drone operator. No arrests were made, Wednesday, August 14, 2019Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer
Heavily armed police are stationed inside a SWAT vehicle outside the scene at 15th Street and Erie Avenue. At least one gunman is holed up in the house.Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer
A Philadelphia Police officer guards a street closure near the emergency entrance of Temple University Hospital, police officers are being treated after being shot.Read moreJOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photographer
Six Philadelphia Police shot. 3700 block of N. 15th street, During the standoff a large police presence to keep the neighbors back, Wednesday, August 14, 2019Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer
Philadelphia crime scene officer wearing a hazmat suit holds a crossbow that was removed from the scene on the 3700 block of N. 15th Street in Philadelphia, PA on August 15, 2019.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
A police officer stands near a "Strike Force" vehicle that was in front of the house at the shooting scene on 15th Street near Erie Avenue on Aug. 15, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pa.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Philadelphia crime scene officer wearing a hazmat suit walks into the home of suspected gunman Maurice Hill on the 3700 block of N. 15th Street in Philadelphia, PA on August 15, 2019.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
Pamela Gettings, 64, lives across the street from the suspected gunman Maurice Hill.Gettings talks about the shooting scene on 15th Street near Erie Avenue in Philadelphia, PA on August 15, 2019.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
Davar Dove, 25, who lives one the 1500 block of Erie Avenue talks about the shoot near his house in Philadelphia, PA on August 15, 2019.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
Members of the Philadelphia crime scene unit investigate a house at the scene of the shooting scene on 15th Street near Erie Avenue in Philadelphia, PA on August 15, 2019. The house is across the street from the suspected gunman Maurice Hill.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
An investigator is seen in the front window of suspected gunman Maurice Hill’s home on 15th Street near Erie Avenue in Philadelphia, PA on August 15, 2019.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
Heavily armed police are stationed inside a SWAT vehicle outside the scene at 15th Street and Erie Avenue August 14, 2019, where a gunman is holed up after six police officers were shot in a confrontation with gunmen in the Tioga section of North Philadelphia.Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / STEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photograp
Heavily armed Police officers are on the scene at 15th Street and Erie Avenue August 14, 2019, after six police officers were shot in a confrontation with a gunman in the Tioga section of North Philadelphia.Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer
Police run to the scene at 15th Street and Erie Avenue August 14, 2019, after six police officers were shot in a confrontation with a gunman in the Tioga section of North Philadelphia.Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer
Burris had been taking a nap when her aunt woke her up and told her of the shooting.
“I couldn’t stop crying and shaking,” she said. The kids were safe, hiding in a stairwell, Precious Babies employees told her when she called. “I was scared to come outside. Scared of gunfire. Bullets have no name on them,” she said.
But as soon as she learned where her son was being evacuated, she ran to the scene.
“You see it in the movies — but for it to be your child, your day care …” Burris said. “Anything could have happened. It could have been worse.”
I write stories about public health — covering government health agencies, the opioid crisis, infectious diseases, and access to care. I also report on issues that matter to the people who work in health care.
