At least 14 people were shot, three of them killed, when gunmen fired into a large crowd in Philadelphia’s South Street late Saturday night (June 4).
South Street is a popular area in Philadelphia lined with restaurants, shops and bars. It is highly trafficked among both locals and tourists. Hundreds of people were out enjoying the night when officers that were patrolling the area said they heard multiple gunshots, then saw several gunmen firing into a crowd.
“You can imagine there were hundreds of individuals enjoying South Street, as they do every single weekend, when this shooting broke out,” said Philadelphia Police Inspector D. F. Pace during a news conference.
An officer fired his gun at one of the shooters from about 10 to 15 yards away, but it is not confirmed if the suspect was hit. “We’re uncertain whether he was struck or not, but the officer was able to get that individual to drop his gun and flee,” said Pace.
Two men and a woman were among those killed in the shooting, he said. They were shot multiple times and died at the hospital. Their names were not made public by authorities yet. The conditions of those who were wounded by the gunfire remain unknown.
Two handguns were recovered at the scene, including one with an extended magazine, Pace said. No arrests have been made, although police said the first suspect is a woman, according to Fox 29.
Pace said that police are expected to be able to gather “a lot of video surveillance footage” from the many businesses along the street today (June 5) so they can try to identify the suspects that were involved in the mass shooting.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been at least 239 mass shootings in the United States so far this year.