Gunfire erupted overnight amidst a crowd of revelers on a downtown Philadelphia street, killing three people, wounding 11 and igniting chaos as people fled the carnage.
Police issued an alert on Twitter shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday: “Emergency personnel are responding to a shooting incident in the area of 3rd and South Streets. Several people have been injured. Please avoid the area.”
Officers patrolling the popular South Street entertainment district heard the shots and saw what appeared to be multiple gunmen, Philadelphia Police Inspector D. F. Pace said at a briefing. One officer shot at a suspect; it was not immediately clear if the shooter was wounded, Pace said.
“The officer engaged the shooter, and as a result of that brave officer – and again we are uncertain whether he was struck or not – but the officer was able to get that individual to drop his gun and flee.”
Two men and a woman were killed, all suffered multiple gunshot wounds, Pace said. Two handguns and “numerous” shell casings were recovered from the scene, lined with trendy shops, bars and restaurants.
No arrests were made. Police were seeking help from local businesses that might have surveillance video of the attack.
“There were hundreds of individuals just enjoying South Street, as they do every single weekend, when this shooting broke out,” Pace said. “This investigation is fluid. There are still a lot of unanswered questions.”
Maureen Long, who lives nearby, said she was “furious.”
“Not just for my neighborhood, for the whole country,” she told nbcphiladelphia.com. “If I hear one more time ‘thoughts and prayers’… We cannot disagree about this. We have to do something. I don’t care what your political leanings are.
“We can’t continue to let people kill people.”
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