PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Gunfire in Philadelphia wounded six people in one neighborhood, struck an 11-year-old child in another neighborhood and also hit a police vehicle elsewhere after which another officer was assaulted trying to arrest a suspect, police said.
Officers called to a west Philadelphia neighborhood shortly before 9:30 p.m. Saturday found two gunshot victims in a park, police said. A third victim was found later, and three others later came to hospitals with gunshot wounds, police said.
The victims - a 17-year-old male, three 18-year-old males, an 18-year-old female, and two women aged 24 and 59 - were all listed in stable condition, police said. Television news reports indicated that the victims had been at a late-night barbecue in the park.
The city’s police commissioner, Danielle Outlaw, said she and other officials were “devastated by the senseless act of gun violence.”
“These acts of lawlessness have no place in our communities; and I remain steadfast in that we will hold accountable those individuals who seek to cause harm in our city,” she said in a statement.
In north Philadelphia’s Olney neighborhood, an 11-year-old boy walking outside shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday reported hearing gunshots and vehicles traveling at high speed. He was later taken to St. Christopher’s Hospital with what appeared to be graze wounds to his shoulder and head.
Shortly before 10:30 p.m. Saturday in northeast Philadelphia’s Crescentville neighborhood, a police officer responding to a report of a person with a gun heard multiple gunshots and heard two of them hit his vehicle. Police said one hit the top of the passenger side door frame and another struck “right next to the gas tank cover.”
One of the officers coming to his aid tried to stop a male on an all-terrain vehicle, but he was knocked to the ground, hitting his head, police said. That officer was taken to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital in stable condition. A suspect was apprehended nearby with a handgun, police said.
Police said a 25-year-old shot three times in north Philadelphia was taken to a hospital in critical condition. No arrests were reported.
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