04 July 2023 , 03:19
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Four people have been shot dead in a horror mass shooting in the US city of Philadelphia.
Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said two boys, aged two and 13, were also badly injured after a gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire.
The victims were apparently random, with no connection immediately known between them and the shooter.
Police arrived on the scene as the shooting was still ongoing and chased the gunman over several city blocks in the southwestern neighborhood of Kingsessing.
The suspect was arrested in an alley without incident with multiple magazines, an AR-type rifle, a handgun and a police scanner.
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Over 50 shell casings were left littering the scene.
Investigators work the scene (Getty Images)Commissioner Outlaw said all of the victims were male, aged from 20 to 59.
She said: “At this point all we know is that this person decided to leave their home and target individuals.”
Officers were flagged down at about 8.30 p.m., and multiple calls of shots fired came in from Kingsessing. Police found some gunshot victims, and as they were attending to them, they heard more gunfire, she explained.
Brief security camera video shows the shooter walking down the street, firing at people.
The suspected shooter was later identified as a 40-year-old man.
Over 50 shell casings were found strewn across the roads (Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock)A second person was also taken into custody who may have returned fire at the suspect, but police did not know whether there was a connection between the two people, Commissioner Outlaw said.
“There are several scenes out here,” she said. “We’re canvassing the area to get as much as we can, to identify witnesses, to identify where cameras are located and to do everything to figure out the why.”
Writing on Twitter, city Mayor Jim Kenney said: "Horrified by the reports of a shooting in Southwest Philadelphia. My heart is with the loved ones and families of everyone involved, and I send my prayers to the victims"
A child's bike left lying near some shell casings (TRACIE VAN AUKEN/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)Horrified by the reports of a shooting in Southwest Philadelphia. My heart is with the loved ones and families of everyone involved, and I send my prayers to the victims."
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Emma Hilton, 70, lives just yards from the scene and sat on her porch watching investigators work. She told the Philadelphia Inquirer: ”It’s getting worse. My kids getting ready to take me up out of here."
The shooting occurred a day after gunfire erupted at a holiday weekend block party in Baltimore, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the southwest, killing two people and wounding 28 others.
Officers swarmed the scene after the shooting began (Getty Images)The wounded in that shooting ranged in age from 13 to 32, with more than half of them minors, according to officials.
The Philadelphia violence marks the country's 29th mass killing in 2023.
So far this year, the nation has witnessed the highest number on record of mass killings and deaths to this point in a single year.
There have been more than 550 mass killing incidents since 2006, according to the database, in which at least 2,900 people have died and at least 2,000 people have been injured.