A teen boy died while two other teens and a 13-year-old girl, who appeared to get caught in the crossfire, suffered injuries during a possible shootout in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood Tuesday night.
Police responded to numerous 911 calls just after 8:35 p.m. to find a 16-year-old boy, 13-year-old girl, 18-year-old man and 19-year-old man suffering gunshot wounds along the 100 block of E. Pastorius Street. Witnesses say the gunfire started at a corner and a crowd started running up Pastorius where the four teens were standing by their homes.
Police officers rushed all four victims to Einstein Medical Center in separate vehicles, police Chief Inspector Scott Small said.
Jai Custus, 16, was shot once in the left side of the back. Custus, who resided on the block, died a short time later.
"To shoot someone innocent and to snuff out their future, is a horrible thing," Custus' aunt Cynthia Pendergrass told NBC10.
"To have shot him in the back while he was running away from the shooting. Senseless and sad."
The girl suffered a graze wound to the right arm, the 18-year-old was shot once in the right side of his torso and the 19-year-old was shot multiple times in the left leg and once in the stomach.
The girl and 18-year-old were both released from the hospital while the 19-year-old man was listed in critical condition after undergoing surgery. All three are expected to survive, Small said.
Investigators found evidence that shots were fired from both sides of the residential block.
"It appears that there was possibly some sort of shootout between two people or two groups of people," Small said.
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Investigators don't know which victim was the intended target but they are nearly certain the 13-year-old who lives around the corner was caught in the crossfire, Small said. Sources also told NBC10 Custus was not the intended target.
"We believe one or two of the victims may have been involved," Small said.
If you have any information on the shooting, please call Philadelphia Police.
"I hope that the person that did this gets no rest," Pendergrass said. "They get no sleep at all because of what they have done."
Correction: Philadelphia police updated age for the girl struck in the shooting.
