Police ‘making great progress’ on investigations into the shootings of 11 teens this week, Bethel said

Philadelphia police on Friday said they were making progress in the investigations into two shootings outside of separate high schools this week in which 11 students were struck by gunfire, one fatally, shortly after school was dismissed.

“We’re making great progress. I’ll leave it at that,” Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said Friday. “The men and women have done a phenomenal job since the incident happened Monday, and I could not be more proud of them. … We hope to have something to report soon as to where we are.”

While developments in the case remain unclear, it’s a sign police may have recovered evidence in the getaway car officers recovered a few hours after the shooting Wednesday in the Northeast, which left eight teens injured. A source close to the investigation said Thursday that detectives were hoping the car was equipped with a smart technology system that would track its earlier locations and the phones recently hooked up to it — something that has been key to solving shootings in the past, including the one outside Roxborough High School in 2022.

Bethel, following a two-hour, closed-door meeting with dozens of top city and law enforcement officials to discuss the rash of shootings, said that the department flooded school corridors with officers Thursday and Friday, and that officials would reevaluate things Monday.

The talk of progress came on the same day that the family of Dayemen Taylor gathered to memorialize and bury the 17-year-old Imhotep student. Taylor was shot and killed on Monday, minutes after he left school, when two people with guns ambushed him and a group of kids stepping onto the bus. Two other Imhotep students were injured, and two women on the bus were also struck.

A Janazah, a Muslim prayer service, was held for Taylor at Khadijah Alderman Funeral Home Friday morning, and he was buried at Chelten Hills Cemetery shortly after. Taylor’s family has declined to speak as they grieve the loss, but school officials described him as a bright, compassionate young man filled with school spirit, and who came from a family with a long line of Imhotep alums.

Meanwhile, those who survived the shooting continued to recover.

A 16-year-old who was grazed by a bullet in the back of his left shoulder had returned home, his brother said, and has sought comfort in ordinary moments. The siblings have focused on doing laundry, playing charades, and watching the new Avatar series, said the 21-year-old brother, who asked not to be identified for privacy reasons.

The family has been drawn strength from their Christian faith, grateful that doctors said the boy should be physically healed within the next two weeks.

”We’re just trying to get back to normal,” said the brother. “Just doing some of the things that kind of make us happy or things we know that we can do without really thinking about too much.”

The 16-year-old was waiting for his bus transfer to get home when the shots erupted, and he started running.

Once he was far enough way to feel safe, the teen felt a “burning sensation” in his back, the brother said, and a passerby said he was bleeding. The boy called his mother and sister, who picked him up and took him to Temple University Hospital’s Jeanes Campus.

The brother said he senses an internal struggle within his parents who have “done everything right” in trying to protect their children, encouraging them to come home right after school activities and stay safe. But that wasn’t enough, and he worries they may become overprotective.

Still, the family recognizes that many of the forces driving violence in the city are beyond their control.

”I know they banned ski masks not too long ago, but the weapons are still out there,” said the brother. “I think until gun laws get as strict as they can possibly get, then unfortunately things like this could keep happening. And nobody wants that.”

Staff writer Anna Orso contributed to this article.