Gunshots near Cherry Hill West football game mark the region’s third game-night shooting
The shooting occurred around 8:45 Friday at Fulton and Weld Streets, a residential area near the Cherry Hill High School West football complex. Cherry Hill West was playing Bridgeton High.
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For the third time since the start of the season, gunshots marred the Friday night revelry of a high school football game, this time in Cherry Hill.
The shooting occurred around 8:45 p.m. at Fulton and Weld Streets, a residential area in the immediate area of the Cherry Hill High School West football complex, according to a statement issued Saturday by acting Camden County Prosecutor Jill S. Mayer and acting Cherry Hill Police Chief Larry Robb.
Detectives found eight shell casings at the site but are not aware of any victims and have made no arrests, the statement said.
Cherry Hill West was playing Bridgeton High School when the shots were fired.
Joseph N. Meloche, superintendent of the Cherry Hill Public Schools, posted a letter on the district’s website informing the community of the incident, thanking law enforcement and offering free mental health counseling to anyone who needs it.
“The game continued and concluded without incident,” Meloche said. Cherry Hill police recommended the game continue, he said, adding that campus police and administrators closed the stadium gates so no one could enter.
He said confidential mental health support is available free of charge via Care Solace.
On Sept. 17, two teenagers were shot near West Philadelphia High School while a football game was being played there against Central High School.
That shooting came 21 days after 8-year-old Fanta Bility was fatally shot and at least three other people were wounded in Sharon Hill outside a crowded football game between Academy Park and Pennsbury High Schools.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer announced Monday that an “initial ballistics analysis” has concluded with “near certainty” that police fired those shots on Aug. 27 in response to gunfire that erupted nearby after the game had ended and spectators were exiting the stadium.
Stollsteimer has petitioned the county’s president judge to empanel an investigative grand jury to consider possible criminal charges.
Anyone with information on the gunshots in Cherry Hill is urged to call Camden County Detective Tanner Ogilvie at 856-650-6398 or Cherry Hill Detective Robert Daniello at 856-432-8834, or email ccpotips@ccprosecutor.org or tips@cherryhillpolice.com.
This is a developing story and will be updated.