A heavily armed gunman wearing a bulletproof vest shot dead five men and injured two children in a mass shooting in Philadelphia on the eve of the Fourth of July.
Wielding an AR-style rifle and handgun, the 40-year-old male suspect, who has not yet been named, began shooting seemingly at random as he stalked the streets of the largely residential neighborhood of Kingsessing for more victims to kill.
The mass shooter is now in custody after he tried to outsmart cops by using a police scanner but within 10 minutes of launching his spree he was tracked down in an alley and arrested, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a news conference.
The killer left five men aged between 16 and 59 dead. The fifth victim wasn’t found until several hours after the shooting when an unnamed man returned home and found his 31-year-old son dead of multiple gunshots wounds.
Two children, aged two and 13, were rushed to hospital following the mass shooting but are in a stable condition, cops said.
Families had been enjoying the July 4 festivities when the gunman began opening fire at his unsuspecting victims. The motive for the shooting is not yet known. It is not clear if any of the victims are connected.
A second person who cops believe had ‘picked up the gun and returned fire in the direction of the shooter’ was also in custody, Outlaw said, but did not know whether there was a connection between that person and the mass shooter.
Police have cleared the scene in Kingsessing neighborhood of Philadelphia after a heavily armed gunman wearing a bulletproof vest killed five men and injured two children in a mass shooting in Philadelphia on the eve of the Fourth of July
Police place a rifle in a bag on the scene of a shooting on July 3 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
‘At this point all we know is that this person decided to leave their home and target individuals,’ Outlaw said.
Security camera video shows the shooter walking down the street calmly while firing at people before responding officers chased the suspect as he continued to fire.
Outlaw said she did not know if the suspect was firing from his rifle or handgun at the time he was chased by cops, but confirmed he was ‘actively shooting’. She said officers managed to corner the suspect in the alleyway before ordering him to show his hands and arresting him.
‘Thank God our officers responded as quickly as they did. I can’t even describe the level of bravery and courage that was shown,’ Outlaw said.
Officers were flagged down at about 8:30 p.m., and multiple calls of shots fired came in from the Kingsessing.
Philadelphia police were dispatched to 56th Street and Chester Avenue, where they found several victims – some of whom were fatally wounded.
Security camera video shows the shooter walking down the street calmly while firing at people before responding officers chased the suspect as he continued to fire
Officers were able to apprehend the suspect in the rear alley of 1600 block of Frazier street and found he was armed with the rifle, handgun, multiple magazines and a police scanner
The officers then heard multiple gunshots further up the street on Kingsessing Avenue where they found ‘multiple casings’. The cops advanced further down the street before hearing more gunshots in the area of 1800 block of Frazier Street.
‘At some point, they locate the suspect and the officers were able to pursue him on foot,’ Outlaw said. ‘They pursued him from Kingsessing along Frazier Street to Springfield while the male was shooting.’
Officers were then able to apprehend the suspect in the rear alley of 1600 block of Frazier street and found he was armed with the rifle, handgun, multiple magazines and a police scanner. The police did not fire any shots themselves.
Police spokesperson Jasmine Reilly told the network four victims were taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and two were taken to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Outlaw said at a news conference that all of the victims of the mass shooting were male, including the two-year-old and the 13-year-old. A mass shooting is defined by the FBI as an incident in which at least four people are murdered with a gun.
The total number of victims increased overnight and police said a fifth male victim was found four hours after the shooting when a man returned home and found his 31-year-old son dead in the living room with multiple gunshots wounds.
‘We believe because of where he was found and where his house is on 56th Street and the fact that we found ballistic evidence that matches the ballistic evidence we found on the street a few hours earlier, we believe this homicide is related,’ Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said.
Responding officers chased the suspect as he continued to fire, and he was arrested in an alley after surrendering, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a news conference
Gunman had a bulletproof vest, magazines, an ‘AR-type rifle,’ a handgun and a police scanner
The total number of victims increased overnight and police said a fifth male victim was found four hours after the shooting when a man returned home and found his 31-year-old son dead in the living room with multiple gunshots wounds
Distraught family and friends of the victims gathered outside Penn Presbyterian Medical Center on Monday night.
Juliet Clarke told ABC Action News that her grandchild’s father was one of the victims.
‘I just came to get my grandbaby and my daughter and take them to the hospital. I came back and my house is in a crime scene. I can’t even go into my house,’ Clarke said.
‘I think the man just ran up and started shooting people that were outside. Imagine if it was the 4th and everybody’s out – it’s just not safe anywhere.’
One neighbor said he heard the gunshots and knew it wasn’t fireworks.
‘I heard shots. I heard like 30 shots,’ he said. ‘And then the second I had a discussion with somebody, we heard about 20 more shots.’
Officials had described the scene as covering an area of two by four blocks and said around 50 spent shell casings were found.
‘At this point you can see there are several scenes out here,’ Outlaw said. ‘We’re canvassing the area to get as much as we can, to identify witnesses, to identify where cameras are located and to do everything to figure out the why.’
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, a Democrat, tweeted about the shooting about two hours later.
‘Horrified by the reports of a shooting in Southwest Philadelphia,’ he said. ‘My heart is with the loved ones and families of everyone involved, and I send my prayers to the victims.’
‘My sincere thanks to @PhillyPolice for their brave response and successful apprehension of a suspect.’
Philadelphia police were dispatched to 56th Street and Chester Avenue, where they found several victims
The suspected shooter was identified as a 40-year-old man. One other person was in custody, but no other details were immediately available
The Philadelphia violence is the country’s 29th mass killing in 2023, the highest on record by this time in the year.
And the Kingsessing neighborhood is becoming more and more dangerous, locals say.
‘It’s getting worse,’ Emma Hilton, 70, who lives on the 1600 block of South 56th Street, told the Philadelphia Inquirer. ‘My kids [are] getting ready to take me up out of here.’
She said that with mass shootings on her doorstep, she is now thinking of moving further south to be with her children. They have been trying to convince her to do so for years.
‘It’s never been on this block,’ Hilton, who has lived in her home for 11 years, said. ‘It’s really gotten worse. It’s time to go.’
Officials had described the scene as covering an area of two by four blocks and said around 50 spent shell casings were found
Police spokesperson Jasmine Reilly told the network six victims were taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and two were taken to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
The mass shooting occurred a day after gunfire erupted at a holiday weekend block party in Baltimore, about 100 miles to the southwest, killing two people and wounding 28 others.
The wounded in that shooting ranged in age from 13 to 32, with more than half of them minors, according to officials.
The Philadelphia violence marks the country’s 29th mass killing in 2023, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.
So far this year, the nation has witnessed the highest number on record of mass killings and deaths to this point in a single year.
There have been more than 550 mass killing incidents since 2006, according to the database, in which at least 2,900 people have died and at least 2,000 people have been injured.
Just across the river, the Kensington neighborhood, which is known as ‘ground zero’ for the city’s drug epidemic, is seen strewn with trash and addicts injecting drugs in the middle of the day.
The disaster has been fueled by the rise of the drug Xylazine, known as ‘tranq’ – a lethal sedative that is used to enhance the effects of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine.
Disturbing images show a depressing sight in Philadelphia as drug users and the homeless litter the streets of the City of Brotherly Love over Fourth of July weekend
It’s a situation fueled by the rise of the drug Xylazine, also known as ‘tranq’ – a lethal sedative that is often used to enhance the effects of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine
Footage by Dailymail.com back in May revealed the scale of Philadelphia’s untamed ‘tranq’ epidemic, which has transformed the city’s streets into a drug-infested hellhole.
Just two months later, images show that the situation is the same.
Gruesome scenes in the ‘City of Brotherly Love’ show droves of homeless addicts aimlessly staggering through the streets, surrounded by tents and scattered trash.
One person gave Dailymail.com an inside look into the harrowing situation, explaining ‘people are starving, people are overdosing.’
National trends indicate the numbers of drug deaths continue to soar, with tranq and fentanyl ‘zombies’ slumped on streets across America.
