2 teen girls wounded in shooting on Temple University campus; victims not students
Temple University has been working to increase security since a student was shot and killed late last year.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Police say two teenage girls were shot on Temple University's main campus in North Philadelphia on Friday night.
A gunman shot at the car, hitting one girl in the back and another in the arm.
The victims were not students, police say.
The shooting happened around 9:30 p.m. near 15th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue.
Officers tell Action News four girls were in their car when some teenage boys approached them to chat.
The girls tried rolling up their windows and the boys tried to keep them down.
That's when, police say, the girls pepper-sprayed them, and one of the offenders opened fire.
The girls who were shot are 17 years old. They're hospitalized in stable condition.
Police say they took a male with a gun into custody nearby.
This happened within 24 hours of another shooting incident before 2 a.m. This time right off-campus on the 1800 block of W. Diamond Street.
Police said multiple shots were fired at a house party with around 100 people inside, mostly temple students, on the first floor.
Authorities confirmed someone with an AK-47 was apparently upset about an earlier car accident. Then opened fire at the house.
Both incidents are still under investigation. Police do not have a description of the gunmen in the house party shooting.
Temple University has been working to increase security since a student was shot and killed during an attempted carjacking late last year.
Those efforts include increased patrols and launching a new safety app.
To help address immediate concerns, Temple says it is taking the following steps:
- Increasing Temple police and bike security patrols in key areas
- Working with the Philadelphia Police to deploy additional supplemental directed patrols
- Placing barriers along Cecil B. Moore and Park Avenue to deter drag racing
- Working closely with the Philadelphia Police Intelligence Unit to monitor social media accounts with increased frequency
- Increasing camera monitoring of key areas where questionable activity has occurred
