Basketball court shooting leaves 2 dead, 3 hurt: 'My son did not deserve this'
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- An explosion of gunfire on the basketball court left two people dead and three others injured on Wednesday night in Philadelphia.
It happened around 8:18 p.m. on the 1800 block of Wallace Street at the Roberto Clemente Park in the city's Spring Garden section.
Dozens of people were in the park and on the basketball court - the same park filmed in the opening credits of 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' - when police say roughly 55 gunshots rang out.
According to police, two men, Khallid Henderson, 21, and Jayden Lucas, 18, both died in the shooting.
"We have video that shows three males enter the playground from Wallace Street and target the deceased male. (They) chased him around the playground and shot him multiple times to his torso," said Deputy Commissioner Melvin Singleton of the Philadelphia Police Department.
"My son did not deserve this," said Henderson's mother, Tahirah Moore.
Henderson attended PET Charter High School and was going to begin photography classes at Community College of Philadelphia this month. He loved basketball, and his family said Henderson played at Roberto Clemente courts every day, Wednesday night was
no different.
"He's like, 'Grandpop, do you need anything?' I said, 'Nah, I'm OK. Be careful out there,'" grandfather Qasim Moore remembered through tears.
An 18-year-old man and two 19-year-old men also suffered gunshot wounds in the shooting. All of the men are hospitalized at this time; two are listed in stable condition, the third is listed in critical condition.
Pete Leonard who lives right across from the park says, "I thought I heard fireworks going off and that's not really uncommon in this area. So I walked outside and a guy was walking past me and was like, 'Yeah four people just got shot.'"
Brian Fitzpatrick of Spring Garden had just passed the park at 18th and Wallace when the shots rang out.
"By the time I hit 19th, that's when the shooting started to occur, and it was loud. I think it was like 55 shots? And it sounded like automatic weapons," Fitzpatrick recounted.
Henderson's grandmother, Khalilah Moore, is a teacher at the school her grandson attended. She said, "They taking innocent lives, you know, so I was just saying Khallid would not die in vain. I'm going to continue to fight this fight. We're not going to give up. We're not a family that give up. So we're going to continue to fight this fight so he can rest in peace."
Police say at this point they have one man in custody who was fleeing in a Lexus with a gun. Two additional suspects are still being sought at this time. Anyone with any information is asked to call police at 215-686-TIPS.
This is the third shooting in the immediate area of the park since July. Philadelphia has surpassed last years total shootings - the city is now set to surpass 1,480 shootings in 2020.
On Thursday, 14 members of City Council adopted a resolution introduced by Councilmember Jamie Gauthier urging Mayor Jim Kenney to declare Philadelphia's gun violence crisis a citywide emergency.
The resolution calls for greater transparency on the implementation of gun violence initiatives; enhanced coordination and planning among relevant City agencies; and leveraging the resources of Philadelphia's dynamic private sector, nonprofit community, academic institutions, and healthcare organizations.
