Two individuals have died and nine others have been hurt in an incident.
Memorial Day
mass shooting
in
Philadelphia
.
Amya Devlin, aged 23, and Mikhail Bowers, who was 21, were fatally shot during an incident at the city’s biggest public park on Monday night. Among those wounded was a 15-year-old, who is the youngest victim identified so far. The identities of the other injured individuals have not been disclosed yet.
Police think that at least three gunmen were involved in the event, following the discovery of three distinct kinds of shell casings. However, they haven’t made any arrests so far as of early Tuesday morning.
Stay updated with the most recent developments regarding the Fairmount Park shooting on our live blog.
here
.
Gunfire rang out at about 10.27 p.m. on Monday as a large group of young people gathered near Lemon Hill Drive and Sedgley Drive at Fairmount Park, the
Philadelphia Police Department said
.
In Fairmount, the area was brimming with families and locals celebrating Memorial Day through barbecues prior to the gunfire that erupted later in the night. According to ABC 6 News coverage, upwards of 200 young individuals were present at some stage. A witness recounted this information as well.
FOX 29
that as many as 1,000 individuals were present at a “barbecue” when the shooting broke out.
“One person said everyone was terrified,” reported a journalist. “A second eyewitness remarked, ‘I saw two individuals fall; that’s all I witnessed,’”
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel stated that the weapons used in the killings have not been recovered so far, but he hinted that a “switch” might be implicated. He explained that this switch is a compact tool capable of altering both pistols and long firearms to function similarly to automatic weapons.
“You can’t discharge multiple rounds at such a rapid pace within that timeframe unless it has some sort of mechanism,” he explained to the press.
Bethel also highlighted the importance of the tragedy occurring on a day meant to honor those who had died.
This holds great importance,” Bethel stated to reporters earlier on Tuesday. “Today is Memorial Day, when we pay tribute to those who lost their lives in warfare.
All nine survivors have received treatment and are now in “stable condition,” according to Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, who spoke to reporters on Tuesday and denounced the “atrocious” and “cruel” acts of violence.
“We won’t let anyone holding us captive because they choose to obtain military-style weapons or firearms equipped with switches,” she stated.
I’m told that the law enforcement officers at our police department are monitoring videos and can clearly hear gunshots being discharged. It’s evident this isn’t from a standard pistol. We mustn’t treat this as routine; such conduct will not be normalized within our municipality.
Fairmount Park was closed late Monday evening and stayed shuttered on Tuesday as investigators were present at the site.
Investigators are still meticulously reviewing social media posts, and law enforcement officials are exploring the possibility of a link between the incident and a Hyundai car that was discovered wrecked close to the location.
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