2 killed as 7 people are shot in North Philadelphia, police say

Seven men were shot in North Philadelphia on Tuesday night, according to police. Two of the shooting victims died.

Police were called to the scene of a shooting just after 8:30 p.m. at the intersection of North 6th Street and Allegheny Avenue in the Fairhill section of the city, officials said.

When police arrived, four men were found outside nearby on the 3200 block of North Fairhill Street. Those victims were taken to a nearby hospital by police while three others were able to walk to local hospitals, according to officials.

Two of the shooting victims died at the hospital just before 9 p.m., officials said. Police have identified the two as 31-year-old Roger Marquez and 28-year-old Leon Pierre, both of Philadelphia.

The five others were being treated in critical condition with a variety of injuries, police said.

Interim Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Stanford said all the victims were adults. Police later revealed the victims ranged in age from 19 to 38 years old.

"Not really sure of all that has occurred out here," Stanford said. "At least 70 shots were fired."

Police said there were multiple cars with bullet holes in them and they were investigating if any bullets went into any homes in that area.

Stanford said they recovered at least five weapons at the scene of the shooting.

Officials were not certain what led to the shooting but said narcotics were also recovered at the scene.

"I don't want to speculate but the fact that we know the amount of firearms recovered as well as narcotics recovered, this is a block that has had some known narcotic activity...this is not a block we aren't familiar with," Standford said.

Police believe there were multiple shooters.

The investigation was ongoing into the next day.

Entering Wednesday, at least 372 people had been killed in Philadelphia so far in 2023, according to police data. That's down about 20% from the same time last year, but still on pace to be one of the deadliest years on record since data began being tabulated 2007.