“Zero Tolerance” Initiative After Deadly Shooting

The mayor of a Pennsylvania city is looking to launch a new initiative to curb crime after a deadly double shooting overnight.

"We're gonna really step up our patrols… it will be a zero tolerance from this point on,” said Chester Mayor John Linder after two men were shot overnight in an area Linder says is a “problem area.”

One of the men shot at 21st and Madison in Chester, Delaware County, around 9:45 p.m. Thursday night died after being shot in the back. Another man was shot in the leg and remained hospitalized at Chester Crozer Medical Center Friday morning.

Chester Police Commissioner Joseph Bail said this is an open investigation and he couldn’t rule out that the two victims possibly shot at each other since so many shot were fired.

“There have been approximately 20 shell casings recovered from two different types of weapons,” Bail said.

Neither man was immediately identified.

The Delaware County Daily Times reports gunfire in the city's West End a little more than an hour later left a woman with a leg injury. The two shootings didn't appear to be related, according to investigators.

These shootings come just days after more arrests were announced in the deadly shooting of a drugstore manager in the city two weeks ago.

With violent crime on the rise, Linder said he hopes to announce as early as Friday a plan to increase police presence in some of the most-crime-ridden areas. Part of the plan would be to target hanging out on city streets.

“People can't be hanging on corners and loitering like they sometimes do here,” Linder told NBC10. “We’ll be involving other strategies as well.”

Anyone with information on the shootings is asked to call the Chester Police Detectives bureau at 610-447-7908.

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