Weekend gunfire leaves one dead, 6 wounded in Philadelphia

A soldier home only a week from training was shot and killed in University City, one of seven people hit by gunfire over the weekend.

University of Pennsylvania police found Pfc. Terrence Davis, 18, and another young man shot late Friday night at 40th and Ludlow Streets after what police believe was an argument outside an arcade.

Davis, 18, of the city's Mantua section, was shot once in the back. He died early Saturday morning at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, three weeks before his 19th birthday. The other victim, 19, was shot in the neck and remains in critical condition at HUP.

Davis decided to join the Army while still in high school, his mother said.

"We figured it's better for him to do that and have a positive influence in his life than just to hang around," Valrita Gordon, 46, said.

Since Davis was young he wanted to be an engineer, Gordon said. He had finished training Oct. 10 with the 35th Engineering Battalion at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and was working as a recruiter at George Washington Carver High School, his alma mater.

Davis was a Junior Mason and talented drummer, playing at his church, Second Mount Zion, where he will be memorialized Friday, his mother said.

"My heart is sorrowed," Gordon said, her voice quavering. "I miss my son, but it also aches for the young man who thought it was his duty to pick up a gun and pull the trigger, because I can't see him knowing God."

About 7:15 p.m. Saturday, a deliveryman for a Chinese restaurant was shot in the chest in the 6900 block of Saybrook Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia in an apparent robbery attempt. The man, about 30, was in critical but stable condition at HUP.

About 1:50 a.m. yesterday, two people were shot at J and Lycoming Streets in the Northeast. A 19-year-old woman was shot in the left arm and was in stable condition at Temple University Hospital. A 24-year-old man was shot in the back and was in critical condition at Temple.

Less than a hour later, at 2:35 a.m., there was another double shooting at 55th and Poplar Streets in West Philadelphia.

An 18-year-old woman was shot once in the buttocks and was in critical condition at HUP. A 27-year-old man was shot in the neck and was in critical condition at Lankenau Hospital.