Two handguns were discovered at the scene, according to police. (This is a fictitious example.)
According to police, three individuals were murdered and 11 others were injured after multiple shooters opened fire into a crowd in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
*Alert* A shooting has occurred near 3rd and South Streets, and emergency officials are responding. A number of people have been hurt. Please stay away from the area. — June 5, 2022, Philadelphia Police Department (@PhillyPolice)
The incident occurred on a crowded boulevard with a vibrant nightlife.
Two males and a woman were killed, according to police Inspector D. F. Pace, who added that officers responding to the incident “saw many active gunmen shooting into the crowd.”
“You can imagine there were hundreds of people enjoying South Street like they do every Saturday when this incident occurred,” Pace added.
Authorities say three people were killed and at least 11 others were injured in a shooting in Philadelphia late Saturday night. It all started about 12 a.m., when officers on patrol heard many gunshots coming from the 200 block of South Street. During an early Sunday morning news conference, Inspector D F Pace said the officers spotted several active gunmen firing into a throng. One of the officers opened fire on one of the assailants. Pace said it’s unclear whether that suspect was hit.
When the initial shots were fired, he said “many” officers were already on the location, describing it as a “normal deployment” for the region on summer weekend nights.
One of the gunmen dropped his pistol and fled after a responding officer fired, however Pace said it was unclear whether the man was struck.
There had been no arrests, according to local media.
Two semi-automatic weapons, one with an extended magazine, were found at the scene, according to Pace.
He went on to say that police would have to wait until the morning to study CCTV footage from surrounding establishments that had closed for the night on Saturday.
The suspect, on the other hand, dropped his firearm and fled. At least two firearms were found at the site, one of which had an extended magazine, according to Pace. Along the 200 and 300 blocks, ‘many’ shot casings were discovered. Gunfire struck 14 individuals in all. Three persons have died and 11 others have been injured among the victims. Two males and a woman were among the people killed. All three were shot many times in the body. Their identities have remained a secret. “I’m sure there were hundreds of people just enjoying South Street like they do every Saturday when this incident occurred,” Pace added. There have been no arrests. At least one of the gunmen fled southbound on American Street, according to Pace. Surveillance video is being sought by police to assist them in identifying the shooters.
Pace called the probe “fluid,” adding that “a lot of unsolved issues” remained.
In recent weeks, the United States has been shaken by a succession of high-profile shootings, including at a school in Texas, a church in California, a grocery store in New York, and an Oklahoma hospital. Hundreds of people have died as a result of the incidents.
When he heard the first bullets ring out on Saturday, bystander Joe Smith, 23, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that his mind had gone to the recent shootings.
“I didn’t think it was going to end once it started,” he told the site.
He continued, “There was guttural screaming.” “I just heard screams,” says the narrator.
Eric Walsh, another witness, described persons fleeing the shooting as “coming off the street with blood splatters on white sneakers and skinned knees and skinned elbows.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer said that two hours later, another person was fatally shot mere blocks away, although police stated the two instances were unrelated.
In the United States, where there were an estimated 393 million weapons in circulation in 2020, more than the number of inhabitants, gun violence tends to increase during the summer months.
In response to the recent bloodshed, US President Joe Biden called for new gun control legislation this week, bemoaning the “ordinary places that have become killing grounds, battlefields here in America.””
Senators from both parties met on Thursday to discuss a package of gun control measures, but Republicans have typically opposed stricter gun legislation.
