2 dead, 4 wounded in shooting in Strawberry Mansion, police say

Two people were killed and four others wounded in a shooting at a suspected speakeasy in Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion neighborhood early Sunday morning, police said.

The gunfire erupted just before 1 a.m. on the 2400 block of North Myrtlewood Street, where officers found three men who had been shot inside a residence.

A 53-year-old man was shot in the face and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Another man, 41, was shot multiple times in his chest, and died shortly after being taken to Temple University Hospital, police said.

A 42-year-old man was shot in the hand and hospitalized at Temple in stable condition, police said.

Police said three other people were wounded in the shooting: a 23-year-old woman shot in her arm; a 28-year-old man shot three times in his leg and hip; and a 33-year-old woman shot twice in her arm. All three arrived at area hospitals in private vehicles and were reported in stable condition, police said.

The shooting appeared to have occurred at a speakeasy in a home on the residential block in North Philadelphia, police said, when one or more shooters opened fire from the street into the building’s front door and window. Multiple 9mm shell casings were found in the street outside the residence, police said.

No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing, police said.

By late Sunday morning, the block was mostly quiet, save for a small group of people huddled near the door of the residence. Around 10 pink chalk circles dotted the street in front of the home where shell casings had fallen hours earlier. Yellow police markers circled a spray of bullet holes in the residence’s front window, air-conditioning unit, mailbox, and door.

One woman, who said she had lived on the block for 15 years, said the shooting was out of place on her usually low-profile street. “For this to happen here? No, this is a quiet neighborhood,” she said.

“I don’t know why people kill each other, but good people live here,” said another resident on her way home from the nearby Save A Lot. Events like the morning’s violence, she said, made her worried for her children’s safety. “I wish it will be better.”

Another neighbor walking her dog nearby said she heard multiple shots fired early Sunday morning, followed by a scream. ”It’s devastating — who wants to live in a war zone?” she said. “It was way better when I was a kid.”

All three declined to be named, citing privacy concerns.

In 2023, the city saw a decline in gun violence from the year prior, yet homicides and shootings in Philadelphia remain near the highest levels in decades. Earlier this month, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker declared a public safety emergency in the city, directing the police department and other city agencies to develop plans to address crime in the city, including gun violence.