A 19-year-old student was hospitalized and a 27-year-old man is in custody after a shooting early Sunday, Sept. 2, west of Main Campus, according to police.
Philadelphia police responded to the 1900 block of Gratz Street at 3:30 a.m. where they found the student shot in the neck. Deputy Director of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone said in an email that the student was taken by Philadelphia Fire Department paramedics to Temple University Hospital where he was listed in serious, but stable condition.
The shooting stemmed from an earlier fight between two houses on the block that had students in them, Leone said. He said that two students initially became involved in an altercation with people from another house on the block that included students and non-students at a party.
After the initial fight, more people joined in on Gratz Street, intending to fight. While the victim was watching his friend, who was not a student, fighting, the man who he was fighting produced a gun and shot the victim in the neck, Leone said.
Philadelphia police recovered a .22-caliber handgun and took a number of students and others to Central Detective Division as witnesses to the incident, Leone said. CSS was informed of the incident, but did not respond because the victim was already taken to TUH and a suspect was in custody.
Residents on the block likend the noise of the gunshot to that of a “firecracker” and said that people rushed toward the scene until they realized that it was a shooting, at which point they proceeded to back off.
Students on the block said the incident brings to light safety issues in the area west of Main Campus where more students are moving toward.
“You’ve got to be safe I guess. It’s kind of a fact of living here. At the same time, it doesn’t make us feel comfortable,” Ricky Reichert, a junior marketing major, said. “We feel like we take the necessary precautions to avoid those situations.”
Other students added that it was alarming to see their block’s name in the news for a shooting.
“I mean, it’s a little concerning,” junior international business major Zach Cohen said. “We live right here, so it was kind of weird to see.”
The university sent out a TU Advisory at 5:27 a.m. Sunday stating the location of the incident, that a student was shot and taken to the hospital and that a suspect was in custody.
Anybody with information on this incident is asked to contact the Philadelphia Police Department’s Central Detective Division at 215-686-3093.
Ali Watkins and Sean Carlin can be reached at news@temple-news.com.
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