Teen Boy Shot Outside Philly Rec Center

UPDATE: Police have identified a suspect in the shooting. New details here.

A teen boy is recovering after he was shot outside the same Philadelphia rec center where officials had announced a plan to install cameras across the city to help improve safety. 

The 15-year-old boy was outside the Marie Dendy Recreational Center on 10th and Jefferson streets at 4:13 p.m. Wednesday when shots were fired. The boy was shot once in the back.

"Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! And I said to my neighbor, 'Was that gunfire?' He said, 'Yes, that was gunfire.' And I was just, I was just heartbroken because we don't hear gunfire in our playground," Angela Bessellieu, a part-time employee at the rec center, told NBC10.

The teen boy was taken to the hospital in stable condition. 

Police said a weapon was recovered but no arrests have been made. They released a surveillance photo of a suspect wearing a white mask, black North Face jacket, black sweatpants with distinct writing above the knees and green New Balance sneakers.

The suspect is considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information on their whereabouts should call 911 or Philadelphia Police.

“Unfortunately now there’s no place in the city of Philadelphia where there couldn’t potentially be a gunshot," City Council President Darrell Clarke said during a Wednesday evening press conference outside the rec center. "This neighborhood is a nice, stable, middle class community where there’s minimal crime as compared to other parts of the city. But yet, as you saw today, at any point in time, somebody can pull out a gun and shoot in the middle of a playground or somewhere else and somebody gets shot.”

Just last week Clarke and other city leaders gathered outside the Dendy Rec Center and announced a plan to install over 100 cameras at 13 Philly parks and recreation centers in an effort to help curb gun violence.

"A week ago we were standing here with residents from the community," he said. "People were excited that we were putting safety cameras up. This is a center that is traditionally safe. A nice environment for young people and older people also. For something like this to happen today is just mind boggling."

Clarke believes the newly installed camera captured the shooting.

“My understanding is that the cameras are all live," he said. "Hopefully the feed can give some sense of what actually happened. So we’re waiting for the police department to determine the scope and the length of what was captured on camera. But the internal and the external cameras from my understanding are live.” 

AFSCME Union, which represents recreational center supervisors, called for more security officers rather than cameras.

"They definitely assist us in solving these crimes and figuring out what happened," Brett Bessler, a member of AFSCME, told NBC10. "That's why we need more boots on the ground."

Bessellieu, meanwhile, emphasized the importance of parental guidance in keeping children safe.

"Find out what they're doing. No secrets," Bessellieu said. "My parents used to always say, 'It's my way or the high way.' Listen to them but don't give them so much of a choice."