Six separate shootings across Philadelphia Thursday into Friday left two people dead and sent seven others to the hospital and investigators are blaming the unseasonably warm weather as being partially responsible for the bloodshed.
"We had an unusually high number of shootings, it was unseasonably warm... the weather was in the 60s so there is a lot more people out on the streets," said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small. "We believe that is the reason for the increase in shootings over the last several hours."
The violence started just before 7 p.m. along the 5500 block of Germantown Avenue near Seymour Street in Germantown where police said an 18-year-old man and 22-year-old man were both shot. Police said the teen suffered gunshot wounds to the neck and shoulder, the older victim was shot once in the arm. Both were taken to Einstein Medical Center in stable condition.
Around 8:10 p.m. police were called to 76th Street and Ogontz Avenue in the Cedarbrook section, and found 19-year-old David McFarlin shot 10 times. The victim -- who lived on the block -- died a short time later.
Minutes later, police were investigating another deadly shooting of a 35-year-old man who was shot multiple times, execution-style while standing next to his wife outside a bar on the 4500 block of Melrose Street in Frankford. Medics pronounced Eric Robinson dead on the scene, said police.
Around 8:45 p.m., near 55th Street and Walton Avenue in West Philadelphia bullets struck a 22-year-old man multiple times in the back, said police. Other officers then found a 30-year-old man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds nearby. Both victims were treated at Penn Presbyterian Hospital in critical condition.
About 30 minutes later, near 41st Street and Girard Avenue in Parkside, a 70-year-old bystander was shot in his arm and a 23-year-old man was struck in the hip and hand, said police. Doctors at Penn Presbyterian listed both victims in stable condition.
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Then around 2 a.m., on the 2300 block of Bailey Terrace -- behind the Wilson Park Towers -- in South Philly officers found a 33-year-old man next to his SUV suffering from one gunshot wound to his abdomen. Doctors at Presbyterian hospital performed surgery on the man and expected him to survive.
"It appears based on the crime scene that there was some sort of shootout," said Small.
In total investigators found more than one dozen shell casings from at least two separate weapons, said Small.
There were no arrests in any of the shootings as police continued to investigate the crimes.
