Philly police searching for two suspects in East Germantown shooting that killed 16-year-old

Philadelphia police are searching for two people in connection with an East Germantown shooting that left 16-year-old Semaj Fields dead and another teen wounded. Police are also investigating whether a 27-year-old man who was shot in the leg nearby was a third victim of the shooting Wednesday night.

The fatal shooting happened shortly before 6:40 p.m., on the first block of Wister Street near Germantown Avenue, police said. Police on patrol a few blocks away heard gunshots and found two wounded teens.

Fields, who was shot in the back, was taken by police to Jefferson Einstein Hospital, where he was pronounced dead minutes later.

A 17-year-old, who also was shot in the back and was also taken to Jefferson Einstein Hospital, was listed in stable condition. The teen lives a few blocks from the crime scene, police said.

A 27-year-old man later visited a local hospital and said he was up the street from the gunfire when he was shot in the leg, said Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore. Police are investigating whether the man’s shooting was linked to the one involving the two teens, he said.

The shooting of the teens was the result of an argument, said Vanore, and video shows the victims exchanging words with two people who then open fire using two different guns, said Vanore.

The department released photos and surveillance footage of the two suspected shooters that shows one gunman wearing a navy blue jacket, a gray hooded sweatshirt and black jeans, and another wearing a blue puffy jacket, black hooded sweatshirt and what appears to be a medical boot on his right foot.

Authorities ask that anyone with information call the Philadelphia Police Department’s Homicide Division at 215-686-3334 or 215-686-3335 or the department’s tip line at 215-686-8477.