Police seeking 2 men in shooting of 10 at W. Phila. cookout

Police were searching Sunday for two men who shot up a West Philadelphia cookout the night before, opening fire with a shotgun and leaving 10 people wounded, including a toddler and two other children.

All 10 were struck with birdshot and taken to area hospitals. Eight, including the three children, were treated and released, police said Sunday.

Two men, ages 26 and 46, were admitted to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and were still there Sunday night.

Neighbors gathered for a party in the 4100 block of Ogden Street when gunfire rang out just before 10 p.m. Saturday, police said. The two men fired down the block with a shotgun at least once. They then got into a car and drove down the street in a gold or silver four-door sedan and fired several more shots, possibly with a handgun, police said.

The buckshot grazed an 18-month-old girl on the left side of the neck. An 11-year-old girl was struck in the left knee and the right shoulder, and a 13-year-old boy was shot in the chest.

The adult victims range in age from 22 to 59.

Police said they are looking for two suspects, one in his 20s with a light complexion, neck beard, and tattoos on one arm. He was wearing a yellow T-shirt and blue jeans. A second male, police said, had a dark complexion and was wearing dark blue jeans and a black shirt.

At the corner of 41st and Ogden Streets, torn yellow crime tape drooped in the hot air Sunday afternoon, marking the scene of the shooting. A lone police car idled at the corner.

Neighbors sat on porches and talked here and there. No one said they had seen any part of the shooting. One after another, residents said they weren't home.

Down the block from 41st Street, Valery Jones was just packing up from a backyard picnic when she heard shots, she said.

"It was quiet yesterday," she said, standing outside and having a smoke. "No arguing. No fighting. Then, out of nowhere, there were gunshots."

Jones, who lives in New York and is in Philadelphia for a memorial, had already come close to a shooting a few blocks away several days ago. She was concerned about her daughter's safety. "You can't go nowhere. You can't even sit on your porch," she said.

When she heard the shots on Saturday night, she scooped up her 18-month old granddaughter, Ashley.

"We were coming out the back. I didn't see anything, but when I heard the shots, I just started running. I didn't know if I was running away from the shots or running into a bullet. I ran into some place, I don't even know whose house. And I looked at my hand and it was bloody. 'Oh, my god, they shot my baby.' "

Ashley, who was grazed in the neck with buckshot, was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where she spent the night. She was home again Sunday, just wanting to be held.

Many neighbors were out and about as Jones spoke, but she was the only one who said she had seen or heard gunshots.

"That's the way it is out here," one police officer said. "Nobody wants to say anything. It's tough and it's frustrating."

Southwest Detectives are investigating.

215-854-2831