A man was gunned down in West Philadelphia as a toddler sat nearby in the victim’s car Thursday night police said.
Police responding to a report of gunshots found the 49-year-old man around 11 p.m. lying on the sidewalk near 56th Street and Wyalusing Avenue as he bled heavily from multiple gunshots to the body, Philadelphia Police Department Chief Inspector Scott Small said.
Officers rushed him to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he died at 11:29 p.m., Small said.
Inside the car where the man had been prior to getting shot, police found the 3-year-old son of a family friend, the chief inspector said. The child was unharmed and later reunited with his mother.
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
Police found 14 spent shell casings from a semiautomatic gun at the scene. Small said it appeared the gunman walked up to the victim and fired from close range, adding that he was apparently targeted.
Gunfire also hit a nearby home, but no one inside was injured, the chief inspector said.
Police could not immediately determine a motive or provide a suspect description, but Small said they were trying to get surveillance video from nearby businesses.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
The shooting is another in a wave of gun violence affecting Philadelphia.
There have been at least 141 deadly and 505 nondeadly shootings in Philadelphia this year, according to the Office of the City Controller. Police statistics, meanwhile, show 169 killings as of Thursday night, a 36% increase from the same time last year, which was already one of the deadliest on record.
Local, state and federal officials have thus far been unable to solve the problem, despite announcing new measures aimed at cracking down on gun violence. Mayor Jim Kenney’s latest proposed budget, meanwhile, allocates less than 1% of funds to anti-violence measures.
