Mayor Nutter: Fourth Of July Shooting Should Not Mar Success Of City's Celebration
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Mayor Michael Nutter expressed his frustration at a City Hall news conference on Thursday over the gun violence that continues to plague Philadelphia, including a shooting on Wednesday night that marred the city's Fourth of July celebration when, police say, a 16-year-old shot two people and was, himself, shot by police.
"I'm not going to let some 16-year-old who's got a beef with somebody a month ago up in Germantown negatively impact the image of the city," Nutter says.
He says the shooting in Center City during the Fourth of July concert, several blocks away, had nothing to do with the celebration, but grew out of a neighborhood dispute that re-ignited when two warring factions of teenagers ran into each other near Love Park.
Nutter says the rest of the estimated half-a-million people celebrating had no idea the incident had even taken place -- and little could have been done to prevent it.
"Everyone else came down just to have a good time," the mayor adds. "I cannot control what every person might want to do or what's in their head. I'm the mayor, I'm not the psychologist for the city."
Police say every available officer worked 12 hour shifts and made just nine arrests, most for disorderly conduct.
