2 killed, 4 injured in shootings, stabbing on South Philadelphia block
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A string of violence on Monday night in a South Philadelphia neighborhood left two dead and four injured, according to Philadelphia Police.
Police were called to the 2100 block of Bailey Terrace in the Wilson Park Homes around 9:50 pm.
"It just was a scary night. A terrible, scary night," according to a neighbor who asked to not be identified.
Police said the first round of violence started with an altercation that spilled onto the street from inside a home.
Two people were stabbed and later treated at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. A 35-year-old man was stabbed twice in his arm. A 40-year-old woman was also stabbed twice.
Then bullets flew.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross explained, "This starts inside the house, comes outside, and then you got this chaos, and at least one person fires."
One neighbor said they heard about 10-15 shots.
Ronald Saunders had been looking out the window of his nearby home.
"People running, screaming," Saunders described.
A 42-year-old woman was shot in the head and neck just feet from her front door. She died at Penn Presbyterian Hospital.
A 59-year-old neighbor was shot in his rear and is in stable condition.
A 51-year-old woman was hit in her thigh.
Both surviving gunshot victims were treated at Hahnemann University Hospital.
"I just know the people that were shot, they were truly innocent bystanders," explained one neighbor.
Commissioner Ross said, "From a preliminary standpoint, the three people were not involved in this altercation, the three people that were shot. Certainly the decedent appears to just have been a neighbor."
Initially police said a stabbing victim was positively identified by a witness as a shooter and taken into custody. However, later Tuesday morning police reported that the offender was unknown.
Police said at least one other person was armed.
Investigators flooded Bailey Terrace, but their presence was not enough to stop the violence.
At 11:24 p.m., more gunfire erupted. This time, right around the corner on the 2100 block of Point Breeze Avenue.
A 24-year-old man was shot at close range and killed.
Police said this man was at the scene of the initial altercation.
"It just shows you how bold and brazen somebody might be. Police supervisors and officers on scene-- they thought it was firecrackers because who would ever think that someone would be so bold, " Ross exclaimed.
The investigation into both incidents is active and ongoing with the Homicide Unit.
