Fairmount Park shooting leaves 1 teen dead, 4 others injured, raises concerns about summer youth violence

At the leafy intersection of Greenland and Woodford Drives in East Fairmount Park Saturday afternoon, a bullet and traces of white chalk marks were the only signs of a devastating shooting Friday night that left one man and four others dead adolescents.

The shooting occurred around 10:50 p.m. among a crowd of about 100 juveniles near the Strawberry Mansion area, police said.

By the end, a 17-year-old woman was dead and four other teenagers – an 18-year-old woman, a 14-year-old boy and two 15-year-old boys – were injured, according to police. which reported no arrests.

Fourteen hours after the shooting, and on the same day as the park's Philly LGBTQ+ Field Day, two investigators in gray suits kept the scene out of reach of park users while awaiting the arrival of the K9s they said had been brought in to try to detect. traces of gunpowder.

Meanwhile, nearby, people continued their usual weekend routines.

At the Miles Gray, Jr. Memorial tennis courts, Stanley Conquest, 67, who said he lived a few blocks from the crime scene, said he hadn't heard anything overnight. But he wasn't surprised to learn of the shooting, even though he described the park as “the safest place here” and incidents of violence there as “very rare.”

“But anytime kids get together like that, something always happens,” Conquest said.

A father himself, he criticizes the guards for not knowing where their children are. “We have a curfew, the fault is not the city, but the parents,” he said.

Salim Ali strongly disagrees. As president of the Strawberry Mansion Tennis Association, he spent decades working with neighborhood youth.

“They need help and the city continues to fake the game,” Ali said. “Schools are underfunded, children's activities are cut, and they don't fund community programs. Where are the children supposed to go? »

Stanley Crawford, president and CEO of the Black Male Community Council of Philadelphia, said there is no single way to mitigate shootings in the city, which typically escalate during the summer months. But one of the most important steps is getting black youth off the streets and equipping them with the resources they need to thrive outside of those environments.

“We have to be able to find ways and means to integrate into the community, especially as black men, and be consistent among these younger brothers with the appropriate resources to help them move in another direction,” he said. said Crawford, who launched the coalition after losing his son William Aboaje Samir Crawford to gun violence five years ago. Police say all five victims Friday night are black.

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Since May 1, there have been more than 140 shootings in Philadelphia, more than 30 of them fatal. About 12 percent of shootings involved minor victims, according to the Comptroller's Office.

Friday night's shooting occurred after the 10 p.m. curfew imposed on Philadelphia teenagers. The restriction, intended as a way to protect children amid the city's gun violence crisis, moved from midnight to 10 p.m. in summer 2022.

According to the Citizens Police Oversight Commission, the legislation encourages police to transport children ages 14 to 17 to their home or community resource center in the evening if they violate curfew. The law prohibits children aged 13 and under from going out after 9:30 p.m.

Despite curfews imposed across the city in recent decades, Sajda “Purple” Blackwell, a community leader and gun violence advocate, said the restrictions had little impact on crime and juvenile victimization.

Blackwell, whose brother Ronnie Easley died of a gunshot wound when he was 7, said more enforcement of the city's curfew and parental responsibility are needed to achieve real change. “We are in a different emergency situation right now,” Blackwell said. “Even though gun violence is down, it remains high in Philadelphia. One black boy or one black girl is too many. This is never acceptable.

Without stronger intervention from city leaders, Crawford fears fatal shootings will continue to rise, furthering the city's long-standing fight against gun violence.