2 teens on ATV die in a hail of bullets

Updated at 8:15 a.m. Tuesday.

A JOYRIDE through North Philadelphia on what police said was a stolen four-wheeler turned deadly for two teenage boys last night, when they were mowed down in a hail of gunfire from an AK-47 assault rifle on a narrow block in the city's Fairhill section.

Cops said the boys. who lived in the neighborhood, were riding an all-terrain vehicle stolen from upstate Pennsylvania on 9th Street near Cambria when automatic-weapon gunfire erupted just before 8 p.m.

The victims were identified this morning as Dexter Bowie, 17, of the 3000 block of North 8th Street, and Johnathan Stokley, 18, of the 3100 block of Darien Street.

Chief Inspector Scott Small said at least 30 shots were fired from the fully automatic weapon, some of which also hit three houses on the block. The ATV also was struck by gunfire, cops said, and was held on the block as part of the crime scene.

Investigators said Bowie was hit several times in the head and leg. Police took him to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:10 p.m., police said.

Stokley was hit several times throughout his body, cops said.

Medics took him to Temple University Hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds at 8:24 p.m.

Small said no bystanders were injured, and police didn't know what sparked the gunfire.

Police had no suspects in the shooting last night, but one witness was taken in by homicide detectives to be interviewed.

Cops found no surveillance cameras in the area.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey arrived about 9 p.m. at the scene, where blood and about 30 shell casings marked where the teens had been gunned down.

The teens were among six people shot in the city as of 11 last night. They were the day's second and third fatal victims of gun violence, and the 68th and 69th murder victims of 2012. By March 11 last year, the city had 75 homicide victims.