What to Know
- A stray bullet struck an 8-year-old boy sitting in his West Philadelphia home Sunday.
- At least 1 of the 2 teens shot at the apartment complex along Ludlow Street was the intended target, Police Commissioner Richard Ross said.
- Responding officers scooped the children up and rushed them to CHOP for treatment.
Three boys — one as young as 8 years old — were shot in West Philadelphia on Sunday night and rushed to the hospital by responding police officers. The shooting left bullet holes in the boy's home.
The shooting happened just before 8 p.m. at an apartment complex along the 6000 block of Ludlow Street near 60th Street, Philadelphia police said.
An 8-year-old boy named Avery was shot once in the right side of his face, a 16-year-old was shot once in the right foot and a 15-year-old was shot once in the right hip, police said.
Philadelphia Police Lt. John Walker said the 8-year-old was inside his home when a bullet came through the wall and hit him in the cheek. His mother identifies him as Avery and says he was playing with his twin sister at the time.
"I had picked him up and that was when he said 'I've been hit, I've been hit' and I've seen the blood," the boy's mother, Takia Harrison, said.
"To be sitting in your home and just take a stray bullet like that, it makes you shake your head," Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said.
Harrison said Avery is afraid to come home after being grazed by the stray bullet. It was one of six bullets that appeared to strike the outside of their home.
All three children were picked up by responding police officers and rushed to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in a department practice called "scoop and run." The practice, which police have been performing for several years and was recently profiled by the NBC10 Investigators, saves precious moments by getting shooting victims to trauma centers as quickly as possible.
Police said the 8-year-old and 16-year-old were listed in stable condition treated and released while the 15-year-old remained critical condition Monday.
Walker said the investigation is ongoing but it appears that one or two gunmen opened fire into a courtyard where the teens were standing. Ross said it appeared at least one of the teens was the intended target and that social media postings could have played a role in the incident.
At least nine bullet casings from two different types of handguns were found at the scene. Bullets hit at least one car and a second wall of the apartment complex.
