Four people were killed and two children were wounded in a shooting in southwest Philadelphia on Monday night, police said.
Two people are in custody. Three firearms were recovered after the incident, which police said took place in the city’s largely residential Kingsessing area. The alleged shooter was identified by law enforcement as a 40-year-old man. The other person in custody is believed by authorities to have obtained a gun and returned fire at the shooter.
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Police initially reported that eight people had been shot, but Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told reporters later that evening that there were six victims. Authorities have not yet established a motive.
The victims were all male. The deceased were 20, 22 and 59 years old, and one of the dead has not yet been identified, Outlaw said. The wounded children, ages 2 and 13, are in stable condition, she said.
The alleged gunman was actively shooting as police pursued him on foot. He was found wearing a bulletproof vest that contained multiple magazines, police said. He was in possession of an AR-style rifle and a handgun, according to Outlaw.
Police found about 50 spent shell cases, Outlaw said. Several vehicles were also struck by gunfire.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney (D) wrote on Twitter that he was “horrified” by the reports of the shooting and that his “heart is with the loved ones and families of everyone involved.”
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“This devastating violence must stop,” he wrote.
As of Sunday, Philadelphia had registered 212 homicides in 2023, a 19 percent decrease from the same period last year, according to data from the municipal government.
Monday night’s shooting would be the 29th mass killing in the United States this year, according to a tracker maintained by the Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University. The tracker defines a mass killing as an incident in which at least four people — excluding the attacker — were killed.
