5 people wounded in drive-by shooting while attending vigil in Feltonville

Neighbors in Feltonville were on edge Wednesday afternoon, a day after gunfire erupted at a vigil for a shooting victim Tuesday night, injuring five people.

As people gathered to remember 20-year-old Orlando Negron, who was killed earlier this month, shots rang out, striking several people in the crowd and frightening others.

At a corner store in the neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon, images of Negron hung in the windows and above the cash register. And against the brick facade outside, candles and flowers lay in tribute.

Shaken neighbors mostly declined to speak about the shooting, which occurred around 8:40 p.m. on the 500 block of East Wyoming Avenue near D Street, police said.

According to the Philadelphia Police Department, a 68-year-old man was shot in the face, and the four other victims — a 24-year-old woman, a 23-year-old woman, a 23-year-old man, and a 17-year-old boy — were shot in lower parts of the body.

All the victims were taken to Temple University Hospital and were reported in stable condition.

Neighbors and others said they were troubled by the gunfire — and lamented that it happened at a vigil, typically a space free of violence.

“Vigils were off-limits,” said George Mosee, the executive director of the Philadelphia Anti-Drug/Anti-Violence Network. “There used to be a code that at the very least the family was going to be able to mourn — and the [shooters] respected that.”

One neighbor, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, wondered aloud whether the memorial to Negron, who had recently become a father, should be removed, lest it stir more violence.

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Police found 19 spent shell casings at the intersection of D and Wyoming, said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small.

A white Jeep Cherokee that fled the scene west on Wyoming was found abandoned about a mile away on the 5000 block of North Fifth Street, he said. Police at the scene found several guns inside the vehicle and several spent shell casings stuck where the windshield meets the hood, Small said.

No arrests were reported.

The victims of the shooting were near the Feltonville intersection attending a vigil for Negron, who was killed in a double shooting on July 5, police said.

As of Wednesday, police had not confirmed a link between that shooting and the gunfire at the vigil.

“We’ll be doing investigation not only into the connection between these two shootings,” Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said,“but, you know, everything that we can to make sure that this is a safe area for everyone who wants to come out.”

She said a total of three guns were recovered.

Mayor Jim Kenney issued a statement in response to the shooting.

“Heartbroken over another instance of extreme violence in our city. @PhillyPolice continues to arrest suspects and take guns off our streets, but it’s up to all of us to stop the violence. If you have any info about a crime please call or text 215-686-TIPS,” he posted on Twitter.

Philadelphia Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore said people who hold memorial ceremonies for loved ones who die by violence should let police know so the department can assign officers to the area to improve safety.

Such notice to police, he said, “is very important so we can have some police presence.”

Mosee, the anti-violence advocate, also urged mourners to consider safety at such events.

“It doesn’t diminish who you are as a family or member of the community to alert police,” he said. “Especially after the way the person they’re memorializing was killed.”

More than 900 people have been shot in Philadelphia so far this year, a 20% decrease compared with the same time last year, police data show. The moderate decline follows three of the city’s most violent years on record, and the rate of shootings remains double that of eight years ago.