"It's horrible. You can't even walk to the corner store these days."
Frustrated neighbors spoke out in anger and fear in the wake of Thursday night's mindless violence in the 5800 block of Master Street.
Just after 9:00 p.m., 38-year-old Keisha Palmer, a mother of two, was shot in the face as she walked home from shopping at a corner store with her 9-year-old daughter.
Police say she was shot as she passed several young males standing on a corner. Gunfire erupted, six shots fired from a .45 caliber semi-automatic. The males, the apparent targets, scattered.
But Keisha Palmer fell to the pavement critically wounded, shot above the left eye. The bullet traveled past her ear and exited the back of her head, never penetrating her skull. She remains in critical condition. She is the sister of a former Philadelphia police officer.
"We know she's not the intended target," said Philadelphia Police Lieutenant John Walker. "She lives in the neighborhood, was just out here coming to the store to get some goods, walking home and unfortunately got hit with a stray bullet."
Police have scoured the neighborhood, but none of the local surveillance cameras have yielded any pictures that can help police capture the gunman.
"It's horrible," said Walker. "People live in this community,she's walking down here with her young child and a friend, strolling on a beautiful night and walks into a bullet, which is unacceptable. People in this neighborhood need to be outraged."
Palmer remained in critical but stable condition Friday night at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
"She's a neighborhood person, she doesn't get involved in the drama," one neighbor told Action News. "It's really out of her character to be stuck in a situation like this with her and her kids. It's a shame. It was tragedy for her and her kids."
An intense manhunt is underway for three men in connection with the shooting. But fear grips the West Philadelphia neighborhood where the shooting occurred. Police desperately need some leads, and, they hope, tip calls from the public.
