Two injured in Park Ave. shooting

Residents say a man chased others while firing a gun.

The shooting began on this Park Avenue porch on Friday morning. | Jenny Kerrigan TTN
The shooting began on this Park Avenue porch on Friday morning. | Jenny Kerrigan TTN

Two men were sent to Temple University Hospital early Friday morning after they were shot in an incident which began outside a house party on Park Avenue’s 2300 block, between Dauphin and York streets.

One man, 18, was shot multiple times in the abdomen and remains in critical condition, Philadelphia police said Monday. Another 23-year-old man was shot once in the arm and has since been treated and released after initially being placed in stable condition. Neither victim is a Temple student.

Philadelphia police said two males were taken into custody on Friday but no arrests had been made as of Monday. Executive Director of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone said warrants were issued for two suspects. The weapon was recovered at the scene.

Several media outlets reported that the shooting took place on the 2200 block of Park Avenue, but Temple Police say the shooting began on the 2300 block.

The Philadelphia police report states that a shooting occurred on the 2200 block of Watts Street.

Senior Patrick McCarthy, an editor for The Temple News, said a fight broke out around 1:30 a.m. during a party his neighbors hosted at the converted rowhome. Some of the party’s crowd was on the porch. He looked out onto the property’s porch, where he saw and heard gunshots before the shooter chased a few men south on Park Avenue. There was blood on the porch, he said.

Kyle Morley, 20, who lives farther south on the block, said he went to his window to look after hearing the shots. He said he saw a man with his gun drawn standing at the corner of Dauphin Street and Park Avenue firing at a group of six to eight men who were running south down Watts Street.

“I think he was just trying to scare them,” Morley said. To him, it seemed like most of the shots were missing the target. He said he doesn’t know anyone involved in the incident.

Police arrived soon after the shooting, at which point the shooter “just casually turned around, and walked in the middle of the street” back toward the party, Morley said. He was then apprehended.

No TU Alert was sent out about the incident, though Temple Police were on the scene.

“Although this was over a block beyond our patrol boundary, we would make a notification decision based on the totality of the circumstances,” Leone said. “However, since the males were arrested and gun recovered, the imminent danger to the community was removed.”

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@temple.edu, 215.204.7419 or on Twitter @JBrandt_TU.

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