Three shot, one dead.
That was the toll -- including a teenager -- of a violent night in Philadelphia as gunshots rang out in three separate neighborhoods.
A man died after being shot at point-blank range inside his home along the 5600 block of Florence Avenue in the Kingsessing neighborhood. Police said the man’s roommates found him around 9:30 p.m. Monday.
“Upon police arrival they found a 49-year-old male victim suffering from at least one gunshot wound to the head and one gunshot wound to the abdomen,” said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small. “He was lying on the bed of a second floor front bedroom in a room where he rents of a private residence.”
Medics pronounced him dead a short time later.
Small said investigators recovered at least five shell casings close to the man’s body indicated he was shot at close range.
The violent night was just beginning.
Just before 11:30 p.m. police responded to E Somerset & Rosehill Streets in the city’s Kensington section for the report of a shooting.
Police found shell casings and a shot-up car but no victim.
Neighbors said that after the shooting, a private auto transported an 18-year-old to Episcopal Hospital with a gunshot wound to his back, said Small.
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The teen was transported to Temple University Hospital where he remained in critical condition overnight, according to investigators.
Small said the shooting led to hysteria in the neighborhood.
“Often times when shots ring out, people that are out in the neighborhood just run -- for fear and to seek protection,” Small said.
It wasn’t clear if some of those who ran might have also been the shooter or shooters.
As police worked to find clues in Kensington, gunshots rang out across town in the Point Breeze neighborhood.
Around 12:20 a.m., someone opened fire on a 22-year-old man as he spoke on his cellphone while standing on the front steps of his home along the 1400 block of S 17th Street in the Point Breeze section of South Philly.
Police arrived to find the man with a gunshot wound to the head. They rushed him to the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania where he remained in extremely critical condition Tuesday morning.
“It’s unknown whether or not he is going to survive his injuries,” said Small.
Police said at least eight shots were fired from a semiautomatic gun.
One bullet also went into the victim’s home and struck the chair where the victim’s father was sitting. Luckily the bullet didn’t strike the elder man.
Police said that they would pour over surveillance video from all three scenes in hopes of tracking down suspects.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Philadelphia Police.
