What to Know
- Four shootings in a matter of hours have left four hurt and one dead in Philadelphia early Monday.
- Two of the victims were able to rush into homes to ask for help. Another shooting may have come after a traffic crash.
- There have been 176 homicides in Philadelphia as of Sunday night, marking a 5% increase over the same date last year.
A 46-year-old woman was caught in the crossfire of one of a string of shootings throughout Philadelphia early Monday that left four hurt and one dead.
Two gunmen began firing at each other along Croskey Street in North Philly around 12:30 a.m., Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said.
Two bullets struck the woman in the back. She was able to get to a family member’s house to call for help, police said.
She was rushed to Temple University Hospital where she underwent surgery in critical condition, police said.
She told investigators she heard arguing before gunshots.
“She believes that she was struck by stray gunfire,” Small said. “She believes she was, literally, caught in the crossfire.”
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Then, just before 1 a.m., police say a man who claimed he was shot during a street robbery in the city’s Logan section walked into a stranger's home and woke up a woman to ask for help.
Authorities say the 28-year-old man doesn't live in the neighborhood where the shooting occurred along Belfield Avenue near North 17th Street.
The man said he was in a rear driveway when he was robbed and shot in the face and arm, investigators said. He was bleeding heavily, but could still walk and talk.
The victim spotted a nearby home and entered the residence through an unlocked door. He went upstairs and woke a sleeping woman. She called 911, and the man was taken to a hospital in stable condition.
Around 1:30 a.m., a 23-year-old man was shot in the abdomen along Irving Street near South 52nd Street in West Philly, police said. The man was being treated in critical condition at a nearby hospital.
Then around 4:45 a.m. Monday, two men were shot along the 3300 block North Lee Street in the city’s Kensington neighborhood.
A 28-year-old man died at the scene while a 26-year-old man was rushed to the hospital in stable condition with a gunshot wound to his arm, police said.
Domielis Cruz, the sister of a men who were shot, said her car was hit before her brothers confronted the men inside the striking vehicle.
“They started fighting, like fist fighting, and then I guess they felt like they had to shoot so they started shooting,” she said.
"He was like, 'get my burner, get my gun, get my gun, I'm gonna kill him,'" Cruz said.
The shooting took place near a Philadelphia police crime camera. A silver or gray Ford Taurus or Mercury Sable could be seen fleeing the shooting scene, Police Capt. George Fuchs said.
These shootings proceeded a bloody weekend in Philadelphia, including seven people being shot at a West Philadelphia park Saturday night.
Anyone with information on any of the shootings are urged to contact Philadelphia police.