PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Amid the destruction erupting amid protests over the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, police in Philadelphia are also reporting a drastic increase in the homicide rate in the city.
Police reported eight homicides Sunday and early Monday in different parts of the city, where the 158 homicides as of the end of May constituted a 21 percent increase above the rate last year, which was already the highest number in more than a decade in the city of 1.5 million.
Police said a triple shooting shortly before noon Sunday in west Philadelphia killed a 23-year-old woman and a 25-year-old man and critically wounded another 25-year-old man. Other homicides in north and west Philadelphia killed a 30-year-old man shot four times and a 23-year-old man shot 15 times.
Gunfire also killed a 22-year-old man found face-down in the street in west Philadelphia and a 19-year-old Sharon Hill man found dead hours later in a car in southwest Philadelphia. Early Monday, a 34-year-old man was killed on a north Philadelphia street and an 18-year-old was killed and a 17-year-old wounded in west Philadelphia.
Officers also responded to other non-fatal shootings around the city, including a double shooting, a triple shooting and a quadruple shooting in different parts of the city. Officials said the city’s police commissioner, Danielle Outlaw, was not attending Sunday’s briefing because she was heading to the quadruple shooting scene.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.