17-year-old boy killed in Philly, third teenager slain in 3 days

Police say another teenager has been shot and killed in Philadelphia, the third teen in two days amid spiraling violence in the city that has officials vowing efforts to curb the mayhem.

Police said the 17-year-old youth was shot in the chest near a recreation center in the Kingsessing neighborhood of southwest Philadelphia at about 8 p.m. Friday. He died less than a halfhour later at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.

The shooting occurred almost exactly 24 hours after 16-year-old Kahree Simmons was shot and killed at a west Philadelphia recreation center. A 15-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy sustained graze wounds.

Earlier Thursday afternoon in a different part of west Philadelphia, 17-yearold Tamir Brown was among four people shot in an Overbrook Park parking lot. He was pronounced dead Thursday night at a hospital. Twenty-four-yearold Naquan Smith also died in the gunfire and the other two men were said to be in extremely critical condition.

A 24-year-old woman was also shot and killed Friday evening while sitting in her vehicle in northeast Philadelphia. Early Thursday, a 21-year-old man was found with multiple gunshot wounds in a vehicle in north Philadelphia and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The city’s mayor called for action Friday amid the surge in violence, saying “We cannot stand by as we lose an entire generation to the ongoing scourge of gun violence.” Mayor Jim Kenney also said in a statement that his administration will host public briefings to discuss strategies to address the situation.

Philadelphia’s police commissioner, Danielle Outlaw, vowed beefed-up patrols in troubled areas. “We need our communities to know that there will be far more boots on the ground and our presence will absolutely be visible,” Outlaw said.

Police records list 96 homicides in Philadelphia this year as of Friday — a 35% increase over the number at this point in 2020. The 499 homicides recorded last year was the highest total in three decades and only one below the 500 recorded in 1990 — and by the time the first day of 2021 had dawned, three more people had been killed.