Philadelphia starts the new year with three homicides overnight
Police responded to calls in South and Southwest Philadelphia, and a man walked himself into Temple's ER before collapsing.
South Philadelphia was the scene of what appeared to be the city’s first homicide of the new year, quickly followed by two more in other sections of Philadelphia, all before the first morning light of Jan. 1, 2021.
A half hour into New Year’s Day, police responded to a radio call reporting a “person with a gun” on the 100 block of Ritner Street in South Philadelphia. The officers found a 37-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his thigh.
The victim was transported to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:57 a.m.
Shortly before 4:30 a.m., police were summoned to a building on the 2000 block of South 66th Street in Southwest Philadelphia. They found a 26-year-old man who had been shot once in the arm and twice in the head. Medics took the man to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was declared dead at 5:36 a.m.
» READ MORE: Philly’s violent year: Nearly 500 people were killed and 2,200 shot in 2020
And at 4:39 a.m. Friday, an unidentified man between 30 and 40 years old walked into the emergency room of Temple University Hospital. He entered through a side door and collapsed. He had been shot in the right side of his chest and shoulder. The man died at 5:38 a.m.
The exact location where the shooting took place was unclear.
The incidents are still under investigation. No arrests have made.
Philadelphia had 499 homicides in 2020, the most since 1990.