A baby girl and 3-year-old boy were shot in separate incidents in Philly and Chester County
Both children remained hospitalized Sunday; one had been shot in a hand, the other in the lower torso. No arrests had been made as investigations continued.
A baby girl, not yet 1 year old, and a 3-year-old boy were injured in separate shootings in Philadelphia and Chester County over the weekend, police said.
Philadelphia police are also investigating the apparent accidental shooting of a 14-year-old boy inside a home in the city’s Holmesburg section Saturday night.
The baby girl — who was 10 months old, according to Capt. John Walker of the Police Department’s nonfatal shooting unit — was shot in the left hand shortly after 10:30 a.m. Sunday in the 2000 block of East Ontario Street in Kensington.
Walker said the girl was shot at a house after a wedding reception that began Saturday night spilled into Sunday morning. The groom got into a fight with his new bride’s son and 17-year-old daughter, Walker said, then walked upstairs to get a gun. When the groom came downstairs, Walker said, he fired four shots, striking the baby — his new step-granddaughter — in the hand.
The girl was being held by her mother, the 17-year-old, when she was shot, Walker said, but no one else was struck by gunfire. The girl, whom police did not identify, was taken to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, where she was in stable condition.
The suspected gunman, whom police also did not identify, fled the scene. Walker said the gunman was expected to face charges.
The 3-year-old boy was shot in a parked truck in Caln Township, Chester County, and was in critical condition Sunday at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia after undergoing surgery for a gunshot wound to the lower torso, police said.
Police said that the case was under investigation and that the father, Jameer Walker, 23, of Thorndale, was being questioned after county detectives were given conflicting accounts of the shooting.
The child was in a black Dodge Durango at 11:45 a.m. Saturday when he was shot with a 9mm handgun, police said. The vehicle was parked in the Caln Plaza shopping center at the time, and police said Jameer Walker “called for help after the firearm discharged.”
Caln police are seeking information on the shooting, including whether the child was alone in the vehicle when he was shot. Anyone with information is asked to call 610-383-7000.
In the Holmesburg shooting, the teenager was shot in a house on the 4200 block of Vista Street about 7 p.m. Saturday, police said. He was taken to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital and was in stable condition. No weapon was recovered, and no arrests had been made.
Not including this weekend’s gunfire, at least 129 juveniles were shot in Philadelphia this year; 20 of them died. Seven of those shooting victims were children under the age of 10.