Apparently the pleas from city leaders around the country to stop shooting each other has fallen on deaf ears as the number of shootings seems to be climbing as it always does in warmer weather. It isn’t even that warm yet. Over the weekend at least 20 people were shot in Chicago and on Monday night there was a mass shooting in north Philadelphia that included a toddler being wounded.
Kenney calls on DA to enforce gun violations after toddler, teens among 5 shot in North Philly
Police are investigating after five people were shot Monday night at a birthday party in North Philadelphia.
The incident occurred around 9:45 p.m. on the 2200 block of West Harold Street.
According to police, a male suspect stood a half-block away and fired into the crowd. Among those shot were a 1-year-old boy, two teenage girls ages 14 and 18, and two women ages 25 and 41.
The toddler, who was shot in the back, was hospitalized in critical but stable condition. The 18-year-old, who is the toddler’s mother, and 14-year-old were also hospitalized in critical but stable condition.
I will skip over the questions about why a toddler was outside at a party at almost 10 PM or why there was a sizable gathering when we are supposed to be staying home. The gathering was a “birthday” party for someone who has shot and killed just a few days ago. Birthday parties and “celebrations of life” are some of the most dangerous places to be in our vibrantly diverse urban settings.
The mayor of Philadelphia, Jim Kenney, kind of insinuated that the D.A. isn’t prosecuting gun crimes vigorously and so of course the D.A. Larry Krasner fired back that they were indeed prosecuting gun crimes. That is all very helpful.
While there is the usual lack of suspect descriptions, North Philadelphia is about 50% black and 30% mestizo, largely Puerto Rican. The people in the background of the TV footage are all black, the website of the nearby school has almost all black kids in the pictures and this looks to be in the area known as the “Philadelphia Badlands”, known for rampant crime.
Things are going swimmingly in Philadelphia already this year, with five murders over the weekend Phillie is looking at a banner year for the coroners office even without the Kung Fu Flu…
As of Sunday, police had recorded 93 homicides in the city so far this year, a 21% increase from last year at the same time.
Three months into the year and Philadelphia is averaging more than a murder per day. Apparently the people who are prone to ignoring the law anyway are still ignoring the law when it comes to shelter-in-place orders. I wonder if there is some broader lesson to be learned here….