Neighbors are shaken after a 16-year-old was shot multiple times in Southwest Philadelphia

A 16-year-old boy was in critical condition Friday after police say he was shot multiple times while walking to catch a trolley in Southwest Philadelphia on Thursday evening.

Neighbors and loved ones were holding onto hope that the teen, whom police did not identify, would pull through, describing him as a polite young man, dedicated Muslim, and loving older brother.

Longtime neighborhood business owner Guillermo Herrera, of Woodland Grocery on the corner of 67th Street and Woodland Avenue, said he had just seen the teen, a frequent customer, 30 minutes before he was shot, when he stopped in to buy a pair of socks.

He said he spoke with the boy’s mother on Friday morning and she told him between sobs that her son had returned home briefly after making the purchase, then left again and was walking to catch a trolley down the street when he was shot.

“He’s a good boy, a nice kid,” said Herrera, 51. “He’s quiet and respectful. I can’t believe this happened.”

Herrera wasn’t in the shop when the shooting occurred, he said ― he had locked up and headed home at 6:10 p.m., just two minutes before security footage shows the teen was shot.

Video of the incident captured by Herrera’s store and reviewed by The Inquirer showed that the teen was walking alone on the sidewalk along Woodland Avenue when a man stepped out of a black SUV that was double-parked across the street. The man, gun in hand, walked to the teen and shot him multiple times, including in the head, before returning to the car and fleeing north.

Video showed the young man collapsed on the ground for five minutes, as no one came to his aid, before police and first responders arrived. He was rushed by medics to Penn Presbyterian Hospital, where he has undergone multiple surgeries and remains in critical condition, said Capt. James Kearney, head of the Philadelphia Police Department’s nonfatal shootings unit.

Kearney said police recovered six spent shell casings at the scene, and recovered a gun that the teen had been carrying. No arrest has been made, and the motive remains unclear, he said, adding that the teen had never been charged with a crime and there were no incidents in his past to indicate why someone might target him.

A friend of the victim’s family said loved ones were gathered at the hospital Friday, hopeful that he would wake up after surgery. She said the teen, whom The Inquirer is not identifying for privacy reasons, is a sweet boy who loves going to school each day.

As of Friday afternoon, Herrera said police had not yet visited the store to review the security video. He and a small group of patrons watched the footage in horror, shocked that violence has struck the neighborhood for the second time in two days — on Tuesday night, a tow truck driver was shot multiple times around the corner.

Shootings of people under 18 have been on the rise in recent years in Philadelphia. So far this year, 57 children have been shot, eight fatally. Last week alone, five children were shot, including a 16-year-old in West Philadelphia Friday night who remains in critical condition. And earlier this week, a 5-year-old was wounded when police said his father mishandled a gun and it accidentally fired.

Longtime Southwest Philadelphia resident Romelle Johnson was eager to learn about the condition of the teen from her block, and wondered how she could support his family. Johnson was not home when the shooting occurred, she said, but part of her wishes that she had been so she could have run to his aid.

“Even if there was nothing else I could do, I would have gone to him, to hold him and let him know that he is loved, and that God loves him,” said Johnson, 69.

Johnson, who has lived on the block for more than 20 years, stood on her porch and stared down at the sidewalk, at the faded chalk marks and blood stains.

“Maybe I need to leave,” she said. “It’s very sad that a city, a state, a country cannot do better than this.”

But she can’t give up yet, she said. An avid reader with thousands of books, Johnson recently rented the twin unit next door to turn into a library so she could share her love of books with her community. And she would go to the market Friday afternoon, she said, for food to cook for the injured teen’s family.

“We cannot stop trying. We cannot stop thinking that people can’t be helped, that God doesn’t love them,” she said. “I have to stay here until God sends me somewhere else.”