A 2-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy were also injured in violence Monday night that made the working-class neighborhood of Kingsessing the scene of the worst act of violence around the Independence Day holiday in United States in history.
Police officers summoned to the scene found gunshot victims and began to help them, before hearing more shots. Some officers took the victims to hospitals while others rushed to the scene of the shooting and chased the suspect. The officers eventually apprehended the assailant inside an alley, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a news conference. The perpetrator had no prior relationship with the victims, she added.
“On what must have been a beautiful summer night, this armed and armored individual wreaked havoc, firing a rifle at his victims, apparently at random,” Outlaw said Tuesday afternoon.
Personnel Inspector Ernest Ransom, commander of the homicide unit, said that according to witness interviews and video footage, the suspect visited various locations wearing a ski mask and bulletproof vest, carrying an AR-15-type rifle.
“Then the suspect began firing randomly at occupied vehicles and individuals walking down the street,” he said. In the vehicles was a mother who was taking her 2-year-old twins home, one of whom was injured in the legs and another ended up with eye injuries due to broken glass.
Philadelphia police identified the victims Tuesday as Lashyd Merritt, 20; Dymir Stanton, 29; Ralph Moralis, 59; and Daujan Brown, 15, who were pronounced dead shortly after the Monday night shooting. Additionally, Joseph Wamah Jr., 31, was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds inside a residence early Tuesday.
Investigators believe Wamah was the first victim, but his body was not discovered by family members until several hours later, Ransom said.
A 2-year-old boy who was shot four times in the legs and a 13-year-old boy who was shot twice, also in the legs, were in stable condition, as were the other 2-year-old boy and the 33-year-old woman who were injured by broken glass.
Police believe the suspect acted alone and there was no reason to believe that anyone else was involved. Police and prosecutors have said they do not plan to file charges at this time against a second person in custody, who is believed to have obtained a gun from somewhere and returned fire from the assailant.
“When you are being shot at in a mass shooting, there are rights to protect other people and to protect yourself,” said District Attorney Larry Krasner.
Authorities urged patience as they investigate all aspects of the shooting. That inquiry, Outlaw said, “includes why.”
Krasner said the suspect would face various murder charges, as well as aggravated assault and weapons offenses. Bail is expected to be denied.
Outlaw praised the bravery of officers who treated the victims and transported them to hospitals while others “bravely ran in the direction of where the sound of gunshots came from” and captured the suspect.
“Without a doubt, their swift actions saved additional lives,” he added.
During a long-weekend block party in Baltimore, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southwest of Philadelphia, two people were killed and 28 others wounded in a shooting. More than half of the victims were 18 or younger, authorities said.
About four hours after the shooting in Philadelphia, three people were killed and eight others injured by gunfire at a neighborhood festival in Fort Worth, Texas.
Philadelphia Mayor Kim Kenney reiterated his call to “do something about America’s gun problem.”
“A person walking through the streets of the city with an AR type rifle and randomly shooting people while wearing a bulletproof vest and several chargers is a deplorable situation but all too common in the United States,” the official said. “Today I was in Independence Room where the Constitution was written, and the Second Amendment was never intended to protect this.”
FUENTE: Associated Press
