Philadelphia broke a grim, decade-long record this week after recording more than 300 homicides in the first six and half months of the year.
“Another quiet summer evening has been shattered by gun violence,” said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw. “People have a right to feel safe in their neighborhoods, and we refuse to stand idly by while yet another child has their life forever changed by a coward with a gun.”
The number of homicides increased Thursday night after two men in the city were killed, including a man in his 20s who was shot in North Philadelphia and a 21-year-old man who was shot in the shoulder in Hunting Park and later pronounced dead.
A 14-year-old girl was also shot and injured by a stray bullet while sitting on her porch Thursday evening.
It is the first time in more than a decade that Philadelphia passed the grim 300-homicide milestone this early in a year.
The number of homicides in 2021 also already surpasses the total number of homicides in 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013. Homicides in in the City of Brotherly Love are up by 30% this year compared to the same time span in 2020, data show. – READ MORE
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