A shooting occurred Thursday night in the US state of Pennsylvania, injuring at least seven people, including a 2-year-old girl and five teenagers, according to reports by the local police.
According to city police Chief Danielle Outlaw, the incident happened close to an elementary school in Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion neighborhood.
Just before six o’clock, shots started to fly Just a few hundred feet from the school, at local time (2300 GMT), the incident did not seem to have begun there, according to Outlaw.
As a parent, I can relate to people’s fears, Outlaw reportedly said.
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She claimed that a teenager who had been shot four times, twice in the right side of his body and twice in the chest, was the victim who had suffered the most serious injuries.
Both a 2-year-old girl and her 31-year-old mother were injured during the shooting. While the mother was shot twice in the left thigh, the toddler was shot in the left thigh. Both were later admitted to a nearby hospital.
In connection with the shooting, which occurred amid an increase in gun violence in the nation, the Philadelphia police say they are looking for three suspects and a vehicle.
Outlaw stated, “We’re always working around the clock to make sure what we’re doing is effective and not just throwing bodies at a situation”.
The destruction brought on by gun violence “continues to traumatize our communities,” according to Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.
“It should be incomprehensible that six people, including a toddler and four teenagers, were shot outside of one of our schools as an event was wrapping up. Naturally, though, it is not beyond comprehension. It should horrify us all, but it shouldn’t surprise any of us,” it said.
According to reports, the most common cause of death in the US for people under 24 is injuries from firearms.
In developed nations, mass shootings in the US account for 62 percent of all fatalities and 73 percent of all incidents, according to a study by the International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice. These shootings are more likely to involve “foreign-born perpetrators, ideological motives, fame-seeking motives, schools, open spaces, and handguns.”
In the US, there have been over one million gun-related fatalities since 1990, according to a JAMA Network Open Study report.
Relevantly, according to the Small Arms Survey (SAS), a Swiss research project, the US is the only nation where there are more civilian guns than citizens – 120 guns for every 100 Americans.
In a similar scene, a 26-year-old woman was shot and killed on Thursday morning in the city’s Kingsessing neighborhood following an argument inside a bar.
Outlaw said, “It’s been a very difficult week, but quite frankly, we’ve been seeing a lot of challenges at least over the last three years that I’ve been here, unlike anything anyone has seen.” Not just in Philadelphia, but across the nation, so we must continue to be creative and make sure to remind people that we are human beings who need assistance. We won’t be able to complete this by ourselves. We are still here to carry out our duties and fulfill our obligations, though, so we must do both simultaneously.”
