A day after two men were shot over a basketball game inside a Northeast Philadelphia gym, the fitness club is reviewing its security policies and one victim's fiancé is speaking out.
A group of gym members were playing a pickup game at World Gym along the 11000 block of Roosevelt Boulevard Tuesday night when a man on the sidelines began to argue with the players, police said.
That man, Mujahid Muhammad, who is not a member of the gym, was angry about the how long the game was taking to finish, officials said.
"Nobody knows who he is so he's speaking up and they said 'Can you be patient? You're gonna get in the next game.' He's not happy with that response," gym co-owner Bob Boyle told NBC Philadelphia Wednesday.
Muhammad, 25, then allegedly went outside to make a call and returned two minutes later with five men, one of whom opened fire on the crowded court, police said.
A.J. Ellerbee and his cousin Ron Simpson were both hit by the barrage of bullets. Simpson, 24, was hit in the stomach while Ellerbee, a husband and father-to-be, was hit in the chest and ear, police said.
"Nowadays, kids think that they can just shoot anybody they want," Ellerbee's fiancé Vania Tejada said.
Ellerbee was released from the hospital Wednesday, but his cousin is still recovering in stable condition.
Muhammad and the four other men fled the scene in a black Buick sedan after the alleged double shooting.
That same car was pulled over a short time later further south on the Roosevelt Boulevard, with authorities taking Muhammad into custody. He was charged with attempted murder, police say.
While Muhammad is behind bars, the alleged shooter and three other suspects are still on the loose -- a fact that leaves little comfort to Tajada.
"If they get the shooter, that would be even better," she said.
Back at World Gym, Boyle says they've never experienced an incident like a shooting. Still stunned, he says the fitness club will now review it's security policies to prevent non-members from slipping inside.
"It's a shock to us, it's not something you'd ever expect to happen in a fitness club," he said.
