Skip to content
Crime & Justice
Link copied to clipboard

Teen in critical condition after shooting in S. Philly Chinese takeout

A 17-year-old boy clung to life Wednesday after being shot in the head by a masked gunman who fired a bullet through the glass door of a Chinese takeout in South Philadelphia. No arrests have been reported.

The Twin Dragon Chinese takeout, at 27th and Dickinson Streets in South Philadelphia, where a 17-year-old boy was shot in the head and critically injured about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017. The shooter fired a bullet from outside that went through the takeout’s front glass door and hit the victim who was inside.
The Twin Dragon Chinese takeout, at 27th and Dickinson Streets in South Philadelphia, where a 17-year-old boy was shot in the head and critically injured about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017. The shooter fired a bullet from outside that went through the takeout’s front glass door and hit the victim who was inside.Read moreJulie Shaw / Staff

A 17-year-old boy clung to life Wednesday after he was shot in the head the night before by a masked gunman who fired a bullet through the glass door of a South Philadelphia Chinese takeout, police said.

The shooting occurred about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday at the Twin Dragon corner takeout at 27th and Dickinson Streets.

By noon Wednesday, the bullet hole in the front glass door appeared to have been covered by a No Smoking sign. A woman inside the takeout declined to comment as she crouched behind a thick-plastic, bullet-resistant partition.

No one opened the door at the teen's nearby rowhouse Wednesday. Neighbors and two women who knocked on the family's door did not want to speak to a reporter.

Capt. Sekou Kinebrew, commanding officer of police public affairs, said Wednesday that the teen had been in the store Tuesday night and was walking out when two men in masks approached him, and he retreated inside.

Chief Inspector Scott Small earlier told reporters that the victim and customers had tried to hold the glass door closed when the shooter tried to enter. The shooter then fired through the door, hitting the teen in the head, police said.

The victim, whose name was not released, was taken by police to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was listed in extremely critical condition.

The two masked men left in a light-colored four-door sedan, Kinebrew said.

Outside the takeout Wednesday, a 17-year-old boy, who gave his name only as Mustafa, said he was in his house Tuesday night when he heard three gunshots, then rushed outside. He said he saw the victim, who is his friend, lying on the tile floor of the takeout. About six other people were in the lobby at the time, he said. "Everybody was just crying," said Mustafa, who did not see the shooter.

Sophia Hernandez, 11, who also lives nearby, told reporters with her mother's permission that she, too, was inside her home when she heard gunshots. After a few minutes, she came outside and looked around the corner, not sure where the shooting took place. "I was shaking," she said. "I did not want to see the injured man."

Police said it was not immediately clear if the victim was the intended target. Detectives on Wednesday retrieved surveillance video from the takeout.

About a half-hour before Tuesday's shooting, an 18-year-old man was shot in the leg about a half-mile away, on the 1300 block of Stanley Street, near 31st and Reed Streets, a police source said. The source said the two shootings were "possibly related" and it appeared there was some type of feud between two groups.