‘Young, bright’ bystander killed in shooting at Northeast Philadelphia bar

A bystander was killed after a disgruntled customer sprayed bullets into a Northeast Philadelphia bar late Tuesday night, police said.

Around 11:30 p.m., three men were kicked out of the Philly Bar & Restaurant, on Welsh Road, after causing a disturbance. While two of the men left without issues, one had to be forced out.

That man, after being thrown out, walked to a pickup truck about 200 feet away and shot at least 15 times into the front of the bar. Five of the bullets went through the window and one struck a 21-year-old woman in the head.

The woman was later identified by a relative as Jailene Holton. Investigators and family said that she was a patron who was at the bar with friends, serving as the designated driver. When police arrived, they found Holton on the floor and rushed her to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital.

She was pronounced dead shortly after.

“She was not part of the disturbance,” Chief Inspector Scott Small told reporters on the scene. “She was not an employee. She was just a customer. And she was with friends. Matter of fact, she was not anywhere near the front window where the bullets went through. She was farther at the back of the bar. And she was just spending time with her friends when she got struck by stray gunfire.”

Police are searching for the three men, including the alleged shooter, who took off in a dark pickup truck. A second patron was injured by glass that shattered and flew into his face when the bullets tore through the bar window.

A relative of Holton’s set up a GoFundMe page to help the family defray funeral costs.

“On June 28th our Jailene was an innocent bystander caught in the middle of another senseless act of violence in the city,” Victoria Holton wrote on the page. “Jailene was a young, bright and beautiful young woman with her whole life to look forward to. She just recently celebrated her 21st birthday. Now her dad, sister and remaining family are left grieving the sudden tragic loss of Jailene.”

The killing was one of three homicides Tuesday, according to police.

An hour before the shooting at the bar, Zamir Syrus, 20, was fatally shot on the 6400 block of North Broad Street in West Oak Lane, police said. Around 1:55 p.m., police said, Rykeith Sullivan, 35, was shot several times in the head on the 2300 block of West Montgomery Avenue in North Philadelphia.

Police did not provide details about the circumstances of either crime and said no one had been arrested. Through Tuesday, police statistics show, 254 people have been killed in the city in homicides this year — about 6% lower than last year’s record-setting pace, but still far higher than most other years in recent memory.

Staff writer Chris Palmer contributed to this article.