Philly shootings leave 3 dead, including man slain in a Popeye’s parking lot

A man was fatally shot and two people were injured in the parking lot of a Popeye’s in Kensington on Monday, unsettling neighbors on a night when two others were also killed in Philadelphia shootings.

Just after 11:15 p.m. Monday, officers responded to a call for a person with a gun on the 300 block of West Lehigh Avenue. When officers arrived, they found multiple people with gunshot wounds inside a red sedan. The victims had been shot in the parking lot of the nearby Popeye’s, police said.

Police said that three suspects, all armed, went up to the sedan and fired 47 bullets into the car. After the shooting, the suspects took off on foot.

One man had multiple gunshot wounds to his head and was pronounced dead shortly after at Temple University Hospital. Another victim, a woman, suffered several gunshot wounds to her body, and the third victim, a man, had multiple gunshot wounds to his back. They were taken to Temple in stable condition.

The third victim managed to drive a few blocks to the 2700 block of North Fairhill Street, where he and the two others were found. Police said one of the victims was a Popeye’s employee.

As of Tuesday morning, no arrests had been made and police gave no motive for the crime.

Employees who were inside cleaning up the restaurant on Tuesday afternoon said it would not be opening that day. The shooting disturbed the restaurant’s neighbors, who lamented the violence becoming commonplace there and across the city.

James Snowden drove his SUV into the Popeye’s parking lot shortly after noon to pick up a Door Dash order to deliver to a customer only to learn of the shootings.

“I know something had happened because a TV reporter was standing there and the store was closed. Stores don’t close for no reason,” said Snowden, 53, who stops by the restaurant daily to pick up orders. He added that he and his wife no longer make food deliveries at night because of crime.

Marilyn Belen, 61, rushed to her mother’s house on Orianna Street directly behind the restaurant after learning of the shooting on television.

“This is too scary. This is too much,” Belen said while seated on the front porch of the home where her mother has lived for 40 years. “This used to be a joyful place. You could sit on Lehigh and play music. But you can’t do that anymore.”

She said her 80-year-old mother sleeps on the first floor of the house, which would put her in danger if a stray bullet pierced a window. She became angry at the thought of such a thing happening.

“What the hell are these kids doing with all these guns?” she asked. “What in the ham sandwich are they trying to prove? What’s so hard about putting down the guns? Whatever happened to playing basketball, shooting pool? Whatever happened to fighting fist-to-fist if you want to get down?”

Reynaldo Hernandez, 55, who was sitting in the shade with friends on Fourth Street near the restaurant parking lot, said it’s too easy for people to get guns.

“It’s too much, and it’s throughout the city. They’re shooting people like shooting people is going out of style,” he said. “No morals, no conscience. How can you lay your head down and go to sleep after shooting someone?”

The triple shooting outside the restaurant capped off a violent few hours in the city, as two other fatal shootings disrupted the hot summer night.

Shortly before 8:10 p.m. Monday, a 26-year-old man was shot several times while standing outside on the 7400 block of State Road, in Holmesburg. The victim, later identified as Quran Justice, was taken to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:27.

And just before 9 p.m. Monday in Frankford, a man in his late 20s was shot once in the head while indoors on the 4500 block of Frankford Avenue. The man, whom police did not identify, was pronounced dead at the scene minutes later.

No arrests have been reported.

As of Monday night, the city was ahead of last year’s pace for what ended in a record-high number of 562 homicides for the year. By Sunday night, police reported that 337 people have been killed in Philadelphia so far this year.

There were 324 homicides by the same date last year.