Girl, 8, Caught in Crossfire as Nearly 50 Shots Fired in North Philly

An 8-year-old girl came within inches of potentially losing her life when she was caught in the crossfire of a shooting in North Philadelphia Thursday night.

The shooting took place just before 9 p.m. along North 13th Street, near Oxford Street, when a car driving up 13th Street came under gunfire from people in another car who were waiting for them, Philadelphia Police Deputy Commissioner John Stanford said.

Gunmen got out of the first car and waited for the other car to drive up, Stanford said. When the other car approached, they opened fire. The targeted car would crash up the street.

"Unfortunately, there's an 8-year-old little girl that's on the other side of the street here who is struck in the head, graze wound," Stanford said.

A man in his 20s, believed to be in the targeted car, was struck in the leg.

Both were treated at the hospital.

Investigators found that at least 47 shots were fired, Stanford said. One of those stray bullets grazed the girl, who was in front of her home.

Stanford called the shooting, which happened near Temple's campus, part of a "broken record" of gun violence in the city.

"This could be anybody walking up and down this street," Stanford said. "This needs to stop, it needs to stop now."

In a tweet, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw called the shooters "cowards with guns."

On a beautiful fall evening in our city, a group of cowards with guns waited on a residential street to open fire on a passing car. Dozens of shots were fired. An adult male in the vehicle was struck in the leg - and so was a little 8 year old girl who was standing across...

— Danielle M. Outlaw (@PPDCommish) September 23, 2022

"Stop putting our resident's - our children's - lives at risk!" Outlaw wrote.

Police hoped that people would come forward to help them track down the shooters. They also planned to pour over surveillance video to find the five people they believe were involved.

Children make up around 10% of the shooting victims in Philadelphia this year. According to a tally by the city controller’s office, most recently updated Wednesday, at least 185 minors have been shot in Philadelphia in 2022.