4 college students have been injured in a drive-by taking pictures close to a Philadelphia highschool Wednesday, shortly after college students have been dismissed early for Thanksgiving, officers mentioned.
The scholars have been standing exterior of a magnificence salon at sixtieth and Oxford streets when a silver-colored Hyundai SUV drove up and began to open hearth on the group shortly after 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Philadelphia Police First Deputy Commissioner John Stanford mentioned in a information convention.
Law enforcement officials within the space to supervise the early college dismissal for the vacation responded to the placement upon listening to the gunfire, Stanford mentioned.
4 college students — two 15-year-old ladies and two 16-year-old boys — have been injured and hospitalized in steady situation Wednesday, police mentioned.
Stanford mentioned it was fortunate that nobody was killed within the incident and nobody contained in the occupied magnificence salon was struck.
When requested if the assault was random, he mentioned it wasn’t but clear if any of the people within the group have been focused.
Overbrook Excessive Faculty was positioned on lockdown at 11:47 a.m. as a result of taking pictures and it was lifted at 1:02 p.m., police mentioned.
No arrests have been made and no weapons have been recovered, officers mentioned. The investigation is ongoing.
“We’re devastated how mindless gun violence continues to plague our metropolis. Its influence extends to all college students, employees, and college communities,” the Faculty District of Philadelphia mentioned in an announcement to NBC Philadelphia. “The continuing violence erases everybody’s sense of security, particularly throughout peak college occasions, resembling arrival and dismissal durations.”
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney denounced the taking pictures, writing on Twitter: “I’m heartbroken by yet one more act of violence in opposition to college students. I’m grateful that every one victims are steady and no one was killed.”
“It’s unconscionable that anybody would jeopardize younger folks by firing a gun close to a college,” he tweeted. “Our administration will work with @PHLschools to assist the Overbrook Excessive Faculty group and with legislation enforcement to make sure the perpetrators are discovered and held accountable.”
