#Philadelphia’s homicide toll reaches 300 this year after weekend shooting

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A Philadelphia police officer blocks off an area near the scene of a shooting occurred on August 16.
Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP

The slaying of two men in Philadelphia over the weekend pushed the city’s homicide count to over 300 — the highest it’s been by the end of August in at least 13 years, police said.

Statistics posted on the Philadelphia Police Department’s website early Monday shows 301 homicide victims citywide through Sunday — or an increase of 33 percent from the same date in 2019, when a total of 356 people died of homicide by the end of the year.

The figure, which has been largely driven by ongoing gun violence, is the highest homicide total Philadelphia has seen by the end of August since at least 2007, data shows.

Philadelphia did not tally 300-plus homicides from 2013 through 2016, but surpassed that grim milestone in 2017 (315) and again in 2018, when 353 were killed citywide, statistics show.

The spate of shootings has included more than 100 juvenile victims, WPVI reports. And in one weekend alone earlier this month, as many as 30 people were shot, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

“We’re tired of the killing in our community,” Kimberly Washington told WPVI during a march calling for peace last week.

Seventeen people were shot throughout Philadelphia from Friday through Sunday, including two fatally, a police spokesman told The Post, adding that he did not immediately have any information regarding arrests in the incidents.

One unidentified man was pronounced dead after cops responded to a street party in North Philadelphia, where gunfire broke out early Sunday. The occupants of a black Nissan Altima with Delaware plates were later taken into custody, but it’s unclear whether charges were filed, the Inquirer reports.

Two men were also shot, including one fatally, less than two hours later in another section of North Philadelphia. Police had not identified either victim as of late Sunday and no arrests were announced by police in any of the weekend shootings, the Inquirer reports.

Mayor Jim Kenney, meanwhile, acknowledged the city’s surging homicide total, saying city officials were “devastated by this solemn moment.”

“One homicide is one too many so I share the public’s outrage that 300 Philadelphians’ lives have been cut tragically short this year,” Kenney said in a statement.

“Our administration maintains a sense of urgency on this mounting public health crisis. This is personal. This is our home, and many of us know some of the victims and their families directly impacted by violence. All Philadelphians deserve to be — and feel — safe in our city.”

Kenney said his administration is working to increase “evidence-based strategies” to cut down gun violence while calling for increased control of illegal firearms at state and federal levels.

“This can only happen when state and federal leaders develop the courage to shake the grip of the [National Rifle Association], and enact true reform that keeps guns out of the hands of people with a proven record of violence,” Kenney’s statement continued.

CNN reported earlier this month that Philadelphia ranked second in the nation in the number of homicides this year, behind just Chicago, according to statistics presented by Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw to city council members during a hearing on gun violence.

Philadelphia had 247 homicides as of July 26, while Chicago had tallied 433, or an increase of 52 percent from a year earlier. New York ranked third at the time with 227 homicides, CNN reported.