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Philadelphia Shootings Kill Girl, 2, and Wound Boy, 11 Months, Police Say Philadelphia Shootings Kill Girl, 2, and Wound Boy, 11 Months, Police Say
(about 4 hours later)
Two separate shootings in Philadelphia over the weekend left a 2-year-old girl dead and an 11-month-old boy in critical condition, the police said. Two separate shootings over the weekend in Philadelphia that the authorities believe might be linked left a 2-year-old girl dead and an 11-month-old boy in very critical condition, the police said.
In the first shooting, which happened about 7:50 p.m. on Saturday, the boy was shot four times, once in the chest and back of the head and twice in the buttocks as he was inside a vehicle, the Philadelphia Police Department said. The baby was in critical condition, the police said. In the first shooting, which happened about 7:50 p.m. on Saturday, the boy was shot four times, once in the neck and back of the head and twice in the buttocks as he was inside a moving vehicle, the Philadelphia Police Department said at a news conference on Monday. The woman driving the car did not realize the boy was shot until she noticed that the baby seat was covered in blood and that the baby was bleeding profusely from his back, Capt. Nick Brown said at the news conference.
The second shooting took place less than 24 hours later as a gunman fired from the street into a home, striking the girl in the back of the head, the police said. She died at the scene. The baby does not have a chance of a full recovery, Captain Brown said. “If the child survives, he will be most likely quadriplegic,” he said.
A 33-year-old man in the home was shot once in the stomach and was in critical condition. The girl’s mother, 24, was also shot, once on the right side of the head and once in the back, and was in stable condition, the police said. The second shooting took place less than 24 hours later as a gunman fired an assault rifle from the street into a home, striking the girl in the back of the head, the police said. She died in her mother’s arms at the scene, Captain Brown said.
No arrests have been made. A 33-year-old contractor, a man who was cleaning the carpets in the home, was shot once in the stomach and was in critical condition, according to the police. The girl’s mother, 24, was also shot, once on the right side of the head and once in the back, and was in stable condition, the police said.
“Outraged, disgusted, and heartbroken by the violence this weekend that claimed the life of an innocent 2-year-old and left another infant fighting for his life,” Mayor Jim Kenney said on Twitter on Sunday. Based on ballistics evidence, the police believe the two shootings were related, Capt. Jason Smith said, but he didn’t elaborate. A motive for the shootings was unclear. No arrests have been made.
“Philadelphians should not live in fear of violence that could take away a child’s life,” he wrote in a second tweet. “But for too many, this is a sad reality.” “You feel like you’re making progress in the city and then this weekend happens,” Mayor Jim Kenney said. “You feel like you’re losing ground,
In August, after six police officers in Philadelphia were shot while trying to serve a warrant, he pleaded with state and federal lawmakers for stronger gun restrictions. He called on the state and federal government to do more to restrict weapons because “they’re flowing in here like a river.”
“I say to our state and federal lawmakers: Step up — or step aside,” he said at the time. Councilwoman Maria D. Quiñones-Sánchez, who represents the district where both shootings happened and grew up in the neighborhood where the 2-year-old was killed, said the shootings were probably related to drugs.
Christine M. Coulter, the acting police commissioner, spoke to reporters at the scene where the girl was shot. “There are 500 people in active addiction that are also homeless in the area,” she said on Monday. “What that creates is an open-air drug market, with an active customer base. There is deep poverty and not enough restorative investment in the people trapped in it.”
“No child should be murdered in their living room, it’s just terrible,” she said, adding that she believed that the house had been targeted. At the news conference, Christine M. Coulter, the acting police commissioner, spoke about the trauma the children of Philadelphia face after such a tragic weekend.
“I mean, it was the only house that was struck,” she said. “Six or seven rounds went through the house, so it would be too much for it to be a coincidence.” “We have kids that are present when it happens, kids that are on the block, and they deal with what they have seen,” she said. “It can’t help but shock and upset their sense of security. You should always feel that you’re O.K. in your home and that when you’re with your parents you are safe, and this weekend’s incidents really disrupted that.”