Philadelphia shooting: 3 dead, 12 injured after gunmen fire into crowd

PHILADELPHIA — Three people were killed and 12 others were wounded when gunmen fired into a crowd in a Philadelphia entertainment district late Saturday night, authorities said.

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The shooting happened shortly at about 11:31 p.m. EDT on South Street in Philadelphia, WCAU-TV reported. Police patrolling the downtown Philadelphia area said they heard multiple gunshots and saw several people firing into a large crowd, Police Inspector D. F. Pace said during a news conference early Sunday.

Update 2:26 p.m. EDT June 5. Philadelphia police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said in a Sunday afternoon news conference that three people were killed and 12 were injured. The wounded victims were between the ages of 17 to 69 years old, and their conditions ranged from stable to critical, she said.

“Yesterday was a dark day for Philadelphia,” Outlaw said.

One of the officers responding saw a person firing a gun, Outlaw said, “and fired several times in the direction of the unknown male.”

Outlaw said she believed the officer’s shot struck the gunman, who dropped his weapon and fled.

The commissioner added that one of the men killed was “involved in a physical altercation with another male, that potentially was the genesis of the shooting.”

Outlaw said both men began firing weapons at one another, “with both being struck, one fatally.”

“We’re absolutely devastated -- devastated -- by this incident,” Outlaw said.

Update 11:02 a.m. EDT June 5: Police identified the three people killed in a mass shooting Saturday night in Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported

The victims were Kristopher Minners, 22; Alexis Quinn, 27; and Gregory “Japan” Jackson, 34, Philadelphia police said.

According to police, Quinn was shot in the rib cage and was pronounced dead at Jefferson University Hospital, WPVI-TV reported. Minnes was shot in the back and was later pronounced dead at Jefferson University Hospital, according to the television station. Jackson was shot twice in the chest and twice in the stomach, police said. He was taken to Penn Presbyterian Hospital where he later died, WPVI reported.

Original report: One officer shot at one of the suspects from about 30 feet away, but it is unclear if the suspect was hit, Pace told reporters.

Two men and a woman were later pronounced dead at an area hospital, WTXF-TV reported.

The conditions of the wounded victims were unknown, according to the television station.

South Street is “known for being a corridor of entertainment” with multiple bars and restaurants, Pace said.

“You can imagine there were hundreds of individuals just enjoying South Street, as they do every single weekend, when this shooting broke out,” Pace told reporters.

Two handguns were recovered at the scene, including one with an extended magazine, police said. “Numerous” shell casings were found, officials said.

“South Street is known for being a corridor for entertainment. There are numerous eating establishments, drinking establishments and businesses throughout the entire area of the 203 hundred block of South Street,” Pace told reporters.

Several witnesses described “chaos” in the area as people fled the scene.

“Once it started I didn’t think it was going to stop,” Joe Smith, 23, told The Philadelphia Inquirer. Smith said he was standing outside the Theater of the Living Arts on South Street when the shots rang out.

“It was chaos,” Eric Walsh, who was closing up the outdoor bar seating area of O’Neals, told the newspaper. “People were coming off the street with blood splatters on white sneakers and skinned knees and skinned elbows. We literally just were balling up napkins and wetting them and handing them to people.”

Pace said that South Street is patrolled by numerous police officers as part of a standard deployment in the entertainment district on Friday and Saturday nights, particularly during the summer, WTXF reported.

No arrests have been made, WPVI-TV reported.

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