At least 11 people were shot during violent demonstrations in Philadelphia last night (Oct. 27). The gunfire occurred on the second night of unrest following Walter Wallace’s police-related death.
Wallace — who struggled with mental illness — was shot multiple times on Monday afternoon (Oct. 26) by police officers who were reportedly responding to calls of a man wielding a knife. Upon arriving at the 27-year-old’s home, they noticed him with the object in hand and fired at him “several times” despite pleas from his mother to “put down the gun.” Wallace was later brought to the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
The shooting immediately sparked protests that devolved into looting and rioting and led to 91 arrests. Thirty officers were also wounded, most after being struck by bricks and rocks.
Amid Tuesday night’s protest, 1,000 people gathered in the Philadelphia streets to demand justice for Wallace before the rioting and looting began. Per FOX 29, 11 people — including two juveniles — were injured following gunshot wounds.
Philadelphia’s Office of Emergency Management has asked that “all residents” in specified areas of the city “remain indoors except when necessary.” “These areas are experiencing widespread demonstrations that have turned violent with looting,” the department wrote on Twitter.
Wallace’s father, Walter Wallace Sr., does not approve of the violence that has ensued his son’s death.
“I don’t condone no violence tearing up the city, looting of the stores,” he told Fox 29. “I would feel like everybody having respect for my family and my son to stop this violence and chaos that’s going on in this city with people that have businesses.”
“That all I’m sending out is an SOS to help, not to hurt and cause no chaos, violence, looting, firing,” Wallace Sr. continued. “I wasn’t brought up like this and I worked 33 years with the city, with the street department picking up trash to try to keep this city clean.”