Eight teenagers are shot at Philadelphia bus stop, police say
Eight high school students in Philadelphia were shot and wounded Wednesday as they waited for a public bus after school, the latest in a wave of shootings that have sparked outrage in the city, police said.
The students, who attend Northeast High School, were shot around 3 p.m. as they waited at a bus stop near a Dunkin’ Donuts just over a half-mile from the school, said Kevin J. Bethel, the police chief. Philadelphia, during a meeting. news conference.
As a bus stopped and students prepared to board, three people got out of a car parked nearby and opened fire, shooting at least 30 times, he said.
The affected students range in age from 15 to 17, Commissioner Bethel said. One was shot multiple times and was in critical condition, he said.
According to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, two buses were also hit by gunfire, although no one inside was hit. Commissioner Bethel said no arrests have been made.
The shooting came after 11 young people were shot while going to and from school in Philadelphia over the past three days, Commissioner Bethel said.
On Monday afternoon, a 17-year-old was killed and four others were injured in a shooting as people boarded a SEPTA bus in Philadelphia, about four miles from the scene of the shooting Wednesday, police said.
On Tuesday night, a 37-year-old man was fatally shot after getting into an argument on a SEPTA bus in Philadelphia, police said. And on Sunday night, a 27-year-old man was fatally shot after getting off a SEPTA bus in Philadelphia, police said. No arrests have been made in any of the shootings and no weapons have been recovered, police said.
“The cowardly acts we have seen over the past three days are unacceptable,” Commissioner Bethel said.
Tony B. Watlington Sr., the superintendent of the Philadelphia school district, said crisis counselors would be sent to Northeast High School to comfort grieving students. He called the shooting “horrific” and “unconscionable.”
“We are just heartbroken and angry that innocent children walking home from school would be hit by gunfire,” he said at the news conference, adding: “Enough is enough.”
Earlier Wednesday, SEPTA Transit Police Chief Charles Lawson said at another news conference that officers planned to crack down on fare evasion, open drug use and illegal gun possession in response to the recent shootings on or near SEPTA buses.
He said there had been “a significant decline across the board in virtually every category of serious crime,” with the exception of gun violence. “It is this category that we are relentlessly targeting,” he said.
Philadelphia has recorded 55 homicides this year, compared to 79 on March 6 last year and 94 on March 6, 2022. police statistics.