Three dead, including man killed at Society Hill Towers, in violent weekend in Philadelphia

A resident of Society Hill Towers was in custody Monday in connection with the deadly shooting of a 31-year-old man inside one of the high-rise buildings at the complex on Sunday night.

Around 8:15 p.m., gunshots were reported on the 24th floor of the West Tower of Society Hill Towers, on the 200 block of Locust Street, building management wrote in an email to residents. When Philadelphia police arrived, they found the man shot multiple times in his torso, police said. He was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after.

Police recovered a gun and took a man into custody, police said. No charges have been announced.

The shooting stemmed from an altercation between a tower resident and his guest, management said in the email. The resident was the shooter, said Police Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore.

When reached at the Society Hill Towers management office, general manager Brett Scioli declined to comment.

The five-acre property where the three-building condominium complex sits was empty and quiet Monday morning, save for the occasional resident leaving to run errands or to smoke a few steps away from their building.

Linda Hirshey, 68, a resident of the complex who lives in a different tower than the one in which the crime took place, said she didn’t hear or see anything. Hirshey, who has lived in the building for 15 years, said the shooting came as a shock yet the violence was not altogether surprising.

“Anything can happen anywhere, that’s the way I feel about it,” she said.

The shooting in Society Hill capped a violent weekend that saw at least two other people killed and four people injured in the city.

Earlier Sunday, at 6:44 p.m., police responded to a shooting inside a convenience store on the 7100 block of Elmwood Avenue in the city’s Eastwick section, police said.

When officers arrived, they found a 33-year-old man who had been shot in his head and multiple times in his body. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:57 p.m., police said. Another man, also 33, was shot in the leg and the arm and taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was placed in critical but stable condition.

The two victims were playing on a poker machine inside the convenience store when two people wearing all-black clothing, white sneakers, and face masks came into the store and fired shots, said Vanore. The 33-year-old who was hit in the leg and the arm was able to flee to the back of the store, he said.

Police are reviewing surveillance footage of the incident and do not yet have a motive for the shooting, he said. A firearm was recovered, but no arrests have been made.

Earlier Sunday morning, at 1:22 a.m., police responded to a shooting on the 5500 block of Angora Terrace, in the Angora Section of the city, police said. A 57-year-old man was assaulted and taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2:21 a.m., police said.

Police made an arrest in the fatal assault and a charge of involuntary manslaughter was expected, said Vanore. Police did not release a motive for the crime or say what kind of weapon, if any, was used.

The neighborhood, nestled between Cobbs Creek and Kingsessing, was once tight-knit, with neighbors looking out for each other, making sure each other’s cars and homes were locked and secure, said Jamie Pettyjohn, 46. Now, neighbors move in overnight and leave just as quickly, he said.

Pettyjohn grew up visiting his grandparents’ house on the block and inherited the house from them when they died, he said. The house had been in his family since 1962, but violence and crime seen in recent years has made him grow fearful of staying, he said.

“I wanna leave but I feel like I’m stuck here,” Pettyjohn said Monday. “This is why I want to go.”