Philadelphia shooting: 3 dead, 1 injured after shooting on Palmetto Street in Lawncrest
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Three people are dead and a fourth person was wounded following a quadruple shooting in the city's Lawncrest neighborhood on Friday.
Officials from the School District of Philadelphia confirmed at least two of the deceased victims are Philadelphia students.
One victim is an eighth grader and another is an 11th grader from The Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School Inc., officials say.
There is no word yet on any of the victims' identities.
"My heart is very heavy because of the number of children we have lost. The number keeps climbing. It's a crisis in the city and we must stop it," said Veronica J. Joyner, the founder and chief administrative officer at The Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School Inc.
The shooting happened around 3:30 p.m. on the 5900 block of Palmetto Street.
When officers arrived, they found one victim on the sidewalk, one victim on the porch, and another inside a residence.
Police say the victims, all between the ages of 15 to 20, were pronounced dead at the scene.
A fourth victim, identified by police as a 16-year-old, was taken to an area hospital in a private vehicle. The teen was placed in stable condition after suffering a gunshot wound to the stomach.
Police say the teen was transported to the hospital by two people who are now in custody for questioning. A gun was also recovered in the vehicle.
Residents say they are tired of the ongoing violence. A mother told Action News she had to walk her daughter home through the grizzly crime scene on Friday afternoon.
"She asked me, 'Mom what happened?'" recalled the mother. "I said 'Baby, something bad happened.' I thought that would be the end of her asking, and she said, 'Well what happened?' And I said, 'Someone died.'"
"This is getting worse and worse, and something needs to be done," added another woman at the scene. "There's violence across the whole U.S. but Philadelphia has a problem and something needs to be done.'"
Just two weeks ago, the Lawncrest neighborhood was the epicenter of another violent shooting. In that incident, a gun battle erupted outside the Lawncrest Recreation Center.
Officers say in that case nearly 30 shots were fired, including a bullet that went through the window of a daycare.
"It's frustrating 'cause again, I know the work that our men and women are doing in trying to stop, trying to prevent, these types of incidents from happening," said Deputy Commissioner John Stanford with Philadelphia police. "But again, we can't lose hope, because if we lose hope, everyone in this city will lose hope."
Authorities have made no arrests in the quadruple shooting.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 215-686-TIPS.
RELATED: Check the 6abc Neighborhood Safety Tracker
Source: WPVI-TV
