Posted on 06/15/2006 2:05:33 PM PDT by new cruelty
The latest shooting victim in Philadelphia is a little girl too young to truly appreciate what a gun is.
Police said the girl, 4, whose name was not released, was wounded in a shoot-out around 7:15 p.m. on the 2100 block of Sigel Street in South Philadelphia - a narrow street just south of Point Breeze that neighbors said is often saturated with youngsters playing outdoors.
The child was in critical condition last night at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia with a gunshot wound to her left femur.
"What threshold do we have to hit before people start to realize how serious this is?" asked an outraged Capt. Kevin Bethel of the 17th Police District.
Bethel said the shooting was reported after the girl collapsed in the street in front of a rowhouse where she and her mother had been visiting. At the time, the girl - identified by neighbors as Nashay Little - was outside playing with other children.
Once police arrived, they picked her up from the street and rushed her to Children's Hospital, along with her mother.
Bethel said that he was unsure how many people participated in the shooting. Police said at least two men were seen running east on Sigel, apparently chasing someone and shooting at him. That person fired back, police said. The girl was hit by a stray bullet.
Neighbors last night stood outside or on their steps, looked at the crime-scene tape, and expressed anger that someone would open fire on a block full of children.
"They should have known better than to shoot on this block with all these kids," Audrey Myers said.
Myers said she was in her house when the shots rang out and ran to her kitchen when she heard the noise.
"One shot is too many, but there were a lot more," she said.
Just before nightfall, one of the girl's shoes still lay in the middle of the street, along with several dozen shell casings being examined by police.
Bethel said that, as has been customary in most shooting crimes, witnesses have been tight-lipped in identifying the suspects.
He said he believed the shooters were seen because the block was full of people and it was still light.
Bethel said he hoped someone would come forward to identify the shooters and asked anyone with information to call police at the 17th District at 215-686-3013.
You hit the nail on the head.
Or Houston or NYC. (or any other metropolitan area, I would venture to say).
Saturated?
The writing, as well as the situation, stinks.
I remember a teacher telling me that they finally convinced the police in Philadelphia to raid a drug house right next door to their school.
The police told the inhaitants that they would be raided on such a day....and they were. Nothing found.
Dont' blame the citizens, it's the entire corrupt establishment there.
I blame them all.
" "What threshold do we have to hit before people start to realize how serious this is?" asked an outraged Capt. Kevin Bethel of the 17th Police District. "
How serious what is, that the Philly PD brass isn't doing their job?
His words, Oh that used to happen all the time when I was Mayor.
What a disgustingly cavalier comment.
The people elected this man to be their governor?
That is part of it. Another factor, in general, is that witnesses are impeding investigations and prosecutions by remaining silent. They remain silent because the ones that do speak up tend to end up dead.
Wow. I am going to see if I can find that quoted elsewhere. That is a hell of a thing for him to say.
It was as tho it was no big deal. I was horrified by his demeanor when speaking to the reporter.
But who's gonna pay for the limo for when he finally does take his fat a$$ to Philly? And his new suit for when he does the press conference saying that none of this would have happened it BP hadn't put in all those self-serve pumps and put all the black folks out on the street to fend for themselves? And then raised the price of gas so people couldn't afford to drive to work. Extortion is the way the man makes his living. And evil big business is the chump who pays him to diss them.
Audrey , you must be a Dimocrap. In my neigborhood twenty homeowners would be squinting down the barrels of their .306's at these 3 POS. Squeeze! End of story.
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