Man killed, off-duty cop wounded by errant gunfire at SW Philly block party
People were attending a July 4th block party when the bullets started flying, killing a 24-year-old man and wounding a 38-year-old off-duty police officer.
Philadelphia police are searching for the man who fired shots into a Fourth of July block party in Southwest Philadelphia late Wednesday, killing a 24-year-old man and wounding an off-duty police officer — both with errant gunfire.
Homicide Capt. John Ryan said at a news conference Thursday that the victims — Michael Boateng and Officer Fred Attakora, 38 — were hit by stray shots when the shooter fired at least six times, possibly toward another man he intended to hit. Ryan did not identify any suspects and said investigators were still searching for witnesses and surveillance video.
Bullets started flying around 10 p.m. on the 7000 block of Buist Avenue in the Eastwick section, police said. Ryan said the shooter may have been aiming at another man on Muhlfeld Street, which intersects with Buist.
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Boateng was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was declared dead at 10:55 p.m., police said.
Attakora, a three-year veteran assigned to the 12th District in Southwest Philadelphia, had worked a shift earlier in the day monitoring the Fourth of July parade in Center City, police said. He was hit in the arm and abdomen and was taken to the same hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.
Ryan said that the block party had been organized by neighborhood residents and promoted on social media, and that many of the attendees were Liberian immigrants who knew one another through an area church. He said that detectives were still seeking a motive for the shooting but that those attending the barbecue "have no involvement, were not the targets."
Other than a few feet of yellow police tape left at the scene, there was little evidence of the crime Thursday, and several neighbors said they had been unaware of the shooting. Attempts to reach relatives of Boateng, who lived several blocks away, were unsuccessful.
Commissioner Richard Ross told reporters at the hospital overnight that Boateng was killed "probably over nothing."
Ross said Attakora has been on the force for three years and is married with two children.
In addition to a $20,000 reward from the city for information that leads to an arrest and conviction, the Fraternal Order of Police said it would give $10,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest.
Staff writer Joseph A. Gambardello contributed to this article.