A new month in Philadelphia, another homicide
Philadelphia homicide detectives began May by adding two more slayings to their caseload: one from Thursday night, the other from the wee hours of Friday morning.
Philadelphia homicide detectives began May by adding two more slayings to their caseload: one from Thursday night, the other from early Friday.
As of 11:59 p.m. Thursday, the city had reported 125 homicides this year, a 20% increase from the same period a year ago, according to the Police Department.
Over the last five years, Philadelphia has had 870 unsolved homicides — a sharp increase from the end of March, when the number stood at 755, according to the department’s Philly Unsolved Murders website.
The most recent slaying victim was gunned down about an hour into the new month. Police were called at 1:03 a.m. Friday to investigate a report of a person with a gun in the 2600 block of North Sartain Street, in the Hartranft section of North Philadelphia.
They found a 43-year-old man inside a white Dodge minivan with a gunshot wound to the left side of his head. The man, whose name was not released, was taken by police to Temple University Hospital, where he died at 4:36 a.m., police said.
A few hours earlier, at 8:50 p.m. Thursday, officers responding to the 1600 block of Annin Street in Point Breeze found a 45-year-old man with multiple gunshot wounds. They took him to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he died at 9:06 p.m. They identified him as Christopher Thomas, a resident of the block where he was shot.
No arrests were made in either slaying, and no details about suspects were released.
Police also were investigating two stabbings and a shooting Friday morning in which the victims were hospitalized in stable condition:
At 2:09 a.m., a 38-year-old man was stabbed in the back in the 2500 block of Ridge Avenue. Medics took him to Temple.
At 1:54 a.m., police responding to the 100 block of East Pastorius Street in East Germantown for a report of a person shooting a gun found a 31-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the left thigh. They took him to Einstein Medical Center.
At 1:52 a.m., police called to the 3400 block of North Palethorp Street in North Philadelphia found a 32-year-old man with a stab wound to his left arm. He was taken to Temple.