Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Teen shot in face outside SEPTA station

The boy was reported in critical condition at CHOP, police said. No arrest had been made in what is one of at least four shootings on or near the transit system in less than four weeks.

The 52nd street station is shown in West Philadelphia on March 31, when a young man was shot on the Market-Frankford Line, marking the second SEPTA shooting that week. On Friday night, police said a 16-year-old boy was shot in the face while sitting on the steps of the station.
The 52nd street station is shown in West Philadelphia on March 31, when a young man was shot on the Market-Frankford Line, marking the second SEPTA shooting that week. On Friday night, police said a 16-year-old boy was shot in the face while sitting on the steps of the station.Read moreJose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

A 16-year-old boy was shot in the face late Friday night while sitting on the steps of the SEPTA station at 52nd and Market Streets in West Philadelphia, police said, one of at least four shootings on or near the transit system in less than four weeks.

Police took the boy to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he was reported in critical condition Saturday.

The search continued for the gunman, who fled east on Market, police said. No weapons had been recovered.

The 52nd Street Station was the site of another shooting on March 31, when a 19-year-old man was shot in the arm on SEPTA’s westbound Market-Frankford Line just before 8 a.m. SEPTA said that shooting was sparked by a fight between several men.

Two days earlier, a man and a woman were shot inside SEPTA’s Snyder Station on the Broad Street Line in South Philadelphia during what police said was also an argument. The suspected gunman was apprehended at 15th and Wolf Streets a short time later, police said.

Earlier this month, Joseph Lighty, 21, was killed April 8 during an argument and fight that started on Broad Street and, police said, continued down to the northbound Broad Street Line subway platform at the SEPTA Walnut-Locust Station. There, Lighty was shot in the left leg and was pronounced dead shortly after at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. The suspected gunman was arrested.

SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch referred questions about Friday’s shooting, which occurred just before 10:30 p.m., to Philadelphia police. The teen became the 16th child shot this month and one of more than 50 children shot this year in the city.

He urged anyone witnessing a shooting on the SEPTA system to call 911, and also noted call boxes are available at all stations and on trains that will connect riders with SEPTA personnel. He said multiple calls to 911 enabled SEPTA and Philadelphia police to quickly respond to the shooting at 52nd Street on March 31 and make an arrest.

Staff writer Michelle Myers contributed to this article.