Philly’s shooting spree continues with a 3-year-old among 16 victims; 3 dead

Another run of gun violence in Philadelphia — this one involving at least 16 people shot over nearly 23 hours, including a 3-year-old, and three people fatally — marked the end of a week that underscored authorities have not yet gotten a handle on one of the city’s most devastating plagues.

The shooting spree that began just before 9 p.m. Friday and continued past 7 p.m. Saturday, killing three men, followed an equally alarming 24-hour stretch Thursday and Friday that left at least 24 people shot, five fatally.

The latest victims ranged in age from a 3-year-old shot in a hand and a 13-year-old shot in a leg, to a 51-year-old man shot in a leg, police said Saturday.

Those killed were a man in his late 20s or early 30s who appeared to be experiencing homelessness, another male whose identity and age are not known, and a 17-year-old male, police said.

Like the shootings Thursday into Friday — which The Inquirer reported marked one of the most violent days in recent memory with 21 people shot Thursday alone — the recent spate was across the city, in North, West, South, and Southwest Philadelphia.

Police reported two men are in custody but provided no additional details on possible charges.

Identities were not provided on any of the 14 male and two female victims.

Police provided the following accounts:

At 8:58 p.m. Friday, a triple shooting was reported on the 3400 block of Fairmount Avenue in Mantua. There, a 24-year-old man was shot once in the left calf, a 41-year-old woman was shot twice in the right thigh and once in the right foot, and a 28-year-old man was shot once in the right foot. All three were reported hospitalized in stable condition. A gun was recovered at the scene.

At 9:50 p.m., a 17-year-old male was shot once in the left foot at 33rd Street and Allegheny Avenue in North Philly. He was also hospitalized in stable condition.

Just three minutes later the 3-year-old was reported shot in the left hand inside a residence on the 1600 block of South 54th Street in Kingsessing, along with a 21-year-old male shot in the right arm who is in custody. Both were reported hospitalized in stable condition. A weapon had been recovered, but no other information was available.

At 10:43 p.m., the 13-year-old boy was shot once in the left thigh on the 5800 block of Baltimore Avenue in West Philly. He also was hospitalized in stable condition.

At 11:46 p.m., a 26-year-old man was shot once in the head and multiple times in the body on the 3200 block of Jasper Street in Kensington. He was hospitalized in critical condition.

Early Saturday morning, just before 2:30, a 31-year-old woman suffered a graze wound to the right ankle on the 800 block of East Allegheny Avenue in Kensington and was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

At 9:19 a.m., the 51-year-old man was shot in the left leg on the 1300 block of South 57th Street in Kingsessing. He was in stable condition, and a weapon recovered from him. Police did not say if they believe his wound was self-inflicted.

At 1:47 p.m., a passerby found a “John Doe” unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the back of the head under a blanket on the 5600 block of Newtown Avenue in Crescentville. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene.

At 3:22 p.m., a 17-year-old was shot multiple times throughout his body on the 3100 block of Berkeley Drive in East Falls. He was pronounced dead at a hospital at 3:40. An 18-year-old man at that location was shot once each on the left side of the back, the left shoulder, and left wrist. He was hospitalized in stable condition and being held in custody. Two weapons were recovered.

At 5:14 p.m., a double shooting was reported on the 2100 block of South Opal Street in West Passyunk. A “John Doe” was shot multiple times throughout the torso. He was pronounced dead at a hospital at 5:40. A 28-year-old man was shot in the left buttock. He was hospitalized in stable condition.

And at 7:48 p.m., in the 500 block of E. Westmoreland St. a 17-year-old male was shot twice in the lower right leg and four times in the right arm pit. He was taken to the hospital in a private vehicle and is in stable condition, police said.

The Inquirer reported Saturday that police statistics show at least 460 people in the city have been injured by guns this year, up 3% compared with the pace last year, which had set a modern-day record for the number of people shot annually.