Police investigating whether shooting of 3 teens in West Philly connected to 2 other shootings

A shooting of three teens in West Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon may have been in retaliation for the shooting earlier Saturday of a 24-year-old man inside a Jeep with his girlfriend and their baby boy, police said.

The child, who is under a year old, was not injured but was taken by police to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for observation. The man, who was shot in his shoulder while inside the Jeep on 59th Street, just north of Market, was taken by police to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. He was in stable condition.

His 23-year-old girlfriend, who was driving the Jeep about 10:45 a.m. when gunfire rang out, was shot once in her left hand and was also taken by police to Penn Presbyterian, where she was in stable condition.

Philadelphia Police Inspector Derrick Wood, commanding officer of the police districts that cover West and Southwest Philadelphia, said the man, who was in the front passenger seat, was being held in police custody at the hospital because a gun was found underneath his seat. Wood said the man is expected to be charged with illegal gun possession, but declined to release his name for publication because he had not yet been charged.

The man has also previously been charged with illegal gun possession in Philadelphia and Delaware County, Wood said.

“He’s a chronic offender and … is involved in illegally carrying guns, and he’s been shot today, … so we need him to face serious consequences,” Wood said. “We don’t want to see him killed as well.”

Wood said police are investigating whether the triple shooting of the teens on the 6000 block of Walton Avenue about 12:20 p.m. Saturday is in retaliation for the earlier shooting and if it was part of an ongoing rivalry between two groups.

In the triple shooting, a 16-year-old boy was shot multiple times in his torso and was taken by police to Penn Presbyterian, where he was in critical condition. Another 16-year-old boy was shot once in his right hip and was also taken by police to Penn Presbyterian, where he was in stable condition. And an 18-year-old male, who was shot once in his back, was taken by medics to Lankenau Medical Center in stable condition.

And Wood said that police are also investigating whether the shooting of a 40-year-old man about 12:50 p.m. in West Philadelphia is also connected to the two other shootings. This victim was shot once in the neck at 55th and Christian Streets, police said. He was taken by private vehicle to Suburban Community Hospital in Norristown, where he was in stable condition.

Court records show that the 24-year-old man who was shot in the Jeep had previously been arrested in 2015 on illegal gun possession charges in Delaware County. He pleaded guilty to one of the charges later that year and was sentenced to 18 to 36 months behind bars, plus two years’ probation.

He was on probation in that case when he was arrested in January 2018 in Philadelphia on charges of illegal gun possession and fleeing from an officer, records show. He posted bail that July and is scheduled to face trial on those charges in January.

The man was taken into custody in Delaware County earlier this year for violating his probation in that case but was released on parole Tuesday to electronic home monitoring, records show.

Police also reported two other shootings in the city Saturday afternoon.

About 4:40 p.m., a 26-year-old man was shot once in the right buttock near Myrtlewood and Master Streets in Brewerytown. He was taken by police to Temple University Hospital, where he was in stable condition.

And about 5 p.m., a 22-year-old man was shot once in the right arm while on the 5800 block of Trinity Street in Southwest Philadelphia. He was taken by private vehicle to Penn Presbyterian, where he was in stable condition.

Police reported no arrests in the shootings, which remain under investigation.