A mass shooting must never be business as usual | Editorial

There was a time when a mass shooting in Philadelphia would be cause for both alarm and action. But after nine people were shot in Kensington a little over a week ago, barely anyone batted an eye.

Maybe since the mass shooting was in Kensington — one of our city’s long-forgotten and grievously underserved communities — it was somehow deemed OK.

Yet what happened was absolutely horrific. Three or four people jumped out of a car on a busy Saturday night and sprayed at least 40 bullets into a crowd near the entrance to the Market-Frankford Line on Allegheny Avenue.

Police and rescue personnel swarmed in. Bloodied bodies were scooped up and rushed to the hospital. No arrests have been made. Mayor Jim Kenney issued a formulaic tweet decrying the grisly events and sending thoughts to the impacted families.

Then it was back to business as usual.

Contrast the city’s response in Kensington to the mass shooting in June that occurred on South Street, which is one of Philadelphia’s most popular tourist destinations. Then, streets were temporarily closed, a curfew was implemented, police presence was beefed up, and Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw toured the area and met with business owners.

» READ MORE: Multiple gunmen fired into crowds on ‘a dark day for Philadelphia’

The Nov. 5 mass shooting in Kensington, meanwhile, quickly faded into another week of bloodshed across the city.

On Monday afternoon, a 21-year-old man was shot 11 times and killed while riding the Broad Street subway. On Tuesday, a 20-year-old woman was shot 10 times and killed in South Philadelphia.

On Wednesday, there were four separate shootings in a two-hour span, including one man who was shot 15 times in Frankford. On Thursday, two men were shot and one was killed in a drive-by shooting in Hunting Park.

On Friday, a 20-year-old man was shot in Olney. On Saturday, a woman was shot and killed in East Falls.

Kenney says gun violence is a top priority but ample evidence says otherwise. As shootings and homicides continue at a near-record pace, a recent report found one of Philadelphia’s key anti-violence programs was so disorganized and inept that it was struggling to train staffers and meet basic goals.

A recent audit by former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart’s office found the $208 million earmarked to reduce gun violence would take at least five years to have any impact. A separate audit documented numerous inefficiencies and outmoded practices that undermine confidence the Police Department even has a viable plan to combat the growing crime and gun violence.

Yes, shootings are up across much of the country, but Philadelphia’s murder rate remains among the highest. New York City, where the population is eight times larger than Philadelphia’s, has logged nearly 100 fewer murders this year.

Whatever local leaders and police are doing in Philadelphia to combat gun violence isn’t working. At some point, someone has to say, “Enough.” Stronger leadership, more proactive steps, and a real comprehensive strategy is needed.

The ho-hum response to the mass shooting in Kensington sends a message that City Hall doesn’t care. By now, Kensington residents have come to expect nothing less. Like many other poor pockets of the city, they are accustomed to being marginalized and written off.

The scene in Kensington is jaw-dropping. Even worse, it has been accepted for decades.

» READ MORE: Business and bloodshed: Kensington’s heroin economy thrives, along with the endless gun violence it fuels

Kensington is home to a $1 billion-a-year drug trade. Within a 1.9-mile stretch, police have identified 80 open-air drug markets. Dealers and those in addiction come from all over to what has been called the Walmart of heroin.

Sex workers walk down the middle of trash-strewn streets amid squalid encampments of homeless people and those with heroin addiction, who often have little reluctance about using drugs on the sidewalk.

Every few years the city will shut down the encampments or try to chase away the drug dealers. But the efforts are short-lived, and virtually nothing changes.

In fact, since 2017 the gun violence in Kensington has tripled as the opioid epidemic has worsened. The drug dealing and shootings continue unabated, despite several major busts of drug rings.

An analysis by The Inquirer last year found 295 people have been shot within a five-minute walk of the corner where the mass shooting occurred in Kensington. The conditions there are so bleak that the Mexican government used video from the neighborhood as part of an ad campaign to warn its young people about the dangers of drugs.

What is tolerated in Kensington is a disgrace and an embarrassment. That is why a mass shooting can occur there and barely cause a ripple.

Until city leaders start to give a damn about every life in Philadelphia, no one is safe.