Two teens charged with Burholme shooting that injured 8 students at a bus stop

Two 18-year-olds have been charged with attempted murder and related crimes for shooting eight Northeast High School students who were waiting for a bus after school last week, police said Monday.

Jamaal Tucker and Ahnile Buggs were taken into custody over the weekend and have each been charged with seven counts of aggravated assault and related offenses. Buggs and Tucker were also charged with one count of attempted murder, conspiracy, and illegal gun possession after police said they jumped out of a car at Rising Sun and Cottman Avenues and started shooting into a group of kids Wednesday afternoon.

Eight students, ages 15 to 17, were struck by bullets. One 16-year-old was shot nine times.

Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said Monday that detectives believe Tucker and Buggs were among fourof the suspects. Two others involved in the crime remain at large — a third shooter and their getaway driver, he said.

Bethel declined to divulge the details of the investigation, including the motive, but said that it may have been related to a shooting outside of Imhotep Institute Charter High School two days earlier, in which a 17-year-old was killed and four others were injured.

Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said investigators were led to the men after recovering evidence inside of the getaway car that was used in Wednesday’s shooting, which police recovered abandoned in Olney later that night.

Investigators searched Tucker’s home Friday and he turned himself in later that evening, while Buggs was arrested Saturday, he said.

Vanore said that when investigators searched Buggs’ home on Saturday, they recovered a .40-caliber Glock 22 pistol with an extended magazine, laser pointer, and a “switch,” a small device that attaches to a semiautomatic gun and makes it capable of fully automatic fire. A preliminary ballistics examination said the gun matched the shell casings recovered at the scene Wednesday, Vanore said.

“We’re not done,” he said, adding that police would continue investigating the others who were in the car earlier and anyone else who played a role.

“Anyone who may have aided and assisted them, we’re coming for them, too.”

During a news conference Monday, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, joined by local and federal law enforcement partners, thanked police and said her administration is committed to preventing more such shootings — and swiftly catching perpetrators after the fact.

“I need you to know that I hear you,” Parker said, as if speaking to the public.

The arrests mark the latest development in a spate of gunfire last week against young people that shook the city. Eleven juveniles were shot, one fatally, within just three days, prompting city leaders to vow to find the offenders and get guns off the streets. Bethel said he would deploy more resources to school corridors, while SEPTA officials said transit police would begin more strictly enforcing lesser criminal violations and conducting more pedestrian stops.

“We don’t apologize for using every legal and constitutional tool in our tool belts to get that done,” Parker said at the scene on Wednesday.

“We will focus on prevention, intervention, and enforcement, and ... we will be unapologetic about engaging the support of every law enforcement partner, who we have available to us to help us address this issue,” she added Monday.

Gunfire erupted just before 3 p.m. on the corner of Rising Sun and Cottman Avenues, an intersection known as the “Five Points,” where hundreds of students pass through each day, catching SEPTA buses to and from school. Northeast High is less than a mile away, and many students transfer buses at the stop.

As a crowd of kids gathered on the corner, police say a blue Hyundai was lurking, parked in the Dunkin’ parking lot next to the bus stop. As one group of students approached the stop, police said three young men wearing masks jumped out of the Hyundai and started shooting. Within seconds, they had fired more than 30 shots, then returned to the car and fled.

Many of the kids shot were seriously injured — one 16-year-old who was shot nine times was intubated and only recently upgraded from critical condition and able to talk. Another 16-year-old was shot multiple times in the chest and was expected to recover, while a 15-year-old had a bullet lodged in his spine and faced a risky surgery and long recovery ahead, their families said.

Within hours, police recovered the getaway car — which had been reported stolen and had a fake temporary license plate during the shooting — abandoned on a dark block in Olney. Investigators impounded the car, as well as a second stolen car they believed was linked to the Hyundai, and searched both for evidence.

Northeast High School juniors and seniors returned to in-person learning Monday with an added police presence at the perimeter of the school and additional patrols of nearby bus routes, according to the school. Freshmen and sophomores were scheduled for virtual learning Monday and they’ll swap with the juniors and seniors Tuesday so educators could offer “small group and individualized support,” Principal Omar Crowder said in a message to parents.