PHILADELPHIA: Gunfire at a gathering of more than 200 mostly young people in north Philadelphia wounded five people, including a 16-year-old, as police said officers came under fire in one of a number of shootings across the city during another violent weekend.
Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said that officers already in the area in anticipation of another event nearby saw what appeared to be a muzzle flash just after 11:30 pm on Saturday and heard a "boom".
Almost simultaneously, she said, they heard gunshots from a different type of weapon. A police spokesperson later said the gunfire began when officers responding to a report of a person with a gun were fired upon by several males.
Police said that no officers returned fire and none were injured adding that ten .40-caliber rounds and 28 rounds from an AR-15 rifle were found at the scene. Police said the victims ranged in age from 16 to 26 and all were listed in stable condition.
Police said that shortly before 3:30 am in west Philadelphia, a man was shot 10 times and died at Penn Presbyterian Hospital. Shortly before 5 am, a 40-year-old man was shot inside a vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene."A number of other people were shot and stabbed around the city," police said.
Just before 9:30 pm on Friday, a 17-year-old youth was killed in north Philadelphia and nine other shootings with 10 victims total occurred before dawn. A 20-year-old man was shot shortly before 9:30 pm on Saturday, south of the center of the city. Outlaw called another weekend of violence "disturbing" and "disheartening".