Fairmount Park

Two hurt as drive-by shooter fires into crowd of hundreds in Fairmount Park

Police said a shooter pulled up to a gathering of likely more than 300 teens, telling them to leave, before firing multiple times into the crowd on Sunday morning

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Two people were injured in a shooting early Sunday, when a drive-by shooter fired randomly into a crowd of hundreds in Fairmount Park, police said.

According to Capt. Anthony Ginaldi of the Philadelphia Police Department, at about 1:20 a.m. on Sunday morning, about 200-300 teenagers were gathered at the Belmont Plateau, at 1800 Belmont Park Drive in Fairmount Park, when a dark-colored sedan pulled up to the group and someone in the car told the group to disburse before they opened fire on the crowd.

"There were anywhere from two hundred to three hundred plus teenagers out here in the park... This is a weekly thing as the weather here gets nicer," he told NBC10.

A 19-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man were both hit in the shooting, and police said.

Officials said that the girl showed up at a local hospital, driven by private vehicle, as officers were responding to the scene along Belmont Park Drive. She had been shot in the chest and back. On Sunday, officials said she was listed in critical condition.

As she was being treated, officials said, the injured man showed up at a separate hospital.

He had been shot in the leg, according to law enforcement officials.

He was placed in stable condition, police said.

Asked if there was a curfew at the time, Ginaldi said the park closes at 10 p.m., but, due to the size of Fairmount Park, "to actively enforce it would be a nearly impossible task."

Officials said an investigation into this incident is ongoing.

There are additional resources for people or communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Further information can be found here.

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