Police commissioner on scene of mass shooting at graduation party, 8 shot, 1 dead, possibly one more injured. Gunman sprayed into crowd of 60 people in SW Philadelphia @FOX29philly
At least six people were shot at a graduation party in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 16, 2018, the police commissioner said.
Initially, the police commissioner said eight people were shot. However, the number was later downgraded to six, with one killed.
Richard Ross Jr., the police commissioner, updated the media at the scene in southwest Philadelphia. “We are trying to confirm whether it’s eight or nine. We believe it’s at least eight,” he said of the victims. “Four of them are juveniles between the ages of 15 and 17. Those people sustained gunshot wounds mostly to the legs, one to the arm…none of those are fatalities. We also have four adults who also sustained gunshot wounds to various parts of their bodies. They are all in their 20s. There was one person who was pronounced dead at the hospital. Preliminarily, we believe he’s in his 20s.”
According to ABC News, the number was later changed to six people injured with these details: “The victims include three boys, ages 15, 16 and 17, a 16-year-old girl and two men, ages 21 and 24.”
The mass shooting occurred at “some sort of graduation party,” he said. He added that there was “nothing that suggested a fight that preceded this…we don’t know if the shooter or shooters left on foot or in a car.”
Ross said there was one person “pronounced dead from this incident. The other seven or so do not appear to be life threatening.” He said the victims “were clustered close together.” The shooter or shooters shot “at least one person with every round. That’s what we have so far.” He said some people are “brazen.”
Here’s what you need to know:
The Gunman or Gunmen Fired Into a Crowd of 60 People, the Commissioner Says
#BREAKING UPDATE: At least 1 person was killed while 7 others were hurt during a shooting at a Philadelphia graduation party, police said: t.co/TKtd9Mzxff
The police commissioner said the shooting occurred along a dead-end street and “there was no reason for police to be back there otherwise.”
He said that violence in the city was about more than the police. “What you have to get at is the hearts and minds of people who want to pull out a gun and fire at a group of 60 people,” Ross said. “That’s something even more troubling that you could do that realizing the carnage you could cause… it’s deeply disturbing to us that someone could resort to that. Pull out a gun and fire at people like that without any regard for life whatsoever…it was a particularly violent weekend.”
According to NBC Philadelphia, the shooting occurred “near 70th and Buist avenues shortly before 10:30 p.m.” There were more than a dozen shootings in Philly over the weekend, the station reported.
A neighbor heard screaming and saw people running.
Philly Police say 8 people were shot during a graduation party in #SouthWestPhilly tonight.
Four adults were hit and at least one is dead. Four kids were also hurt but they’re expected to fully recover. We talked to a neighbor who heard the gunshots t.co/DcskMBhftV
The motive was not yet clear. A man wrote on Twitter, “Craziest sh*t i ever experienced the fact that somebody shot up a cookout my whole family was at i can’t believe this sh*t man.”
This post is being updated as more information is learned about the graduation party.