Teen Boy Fighting For His Life After Being Shot By 14-Year-Old, Police Say
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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A 15-year-old boy is fighting for his life after he was shot in West Philadelphia. Police say the person who shot him is only 14 years old.
The friend of a 15-year-old boy who was shot in the chest Monday night says he learned of the shooting shortly after 11:30 p.m.
"He told me he got shot and stuff and I was crying," he said.
The victim is recovering at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center after being shot near his home on the 5400 block of Cherry Street in West Philadelphia.
"I knew him since I was in the sandbox — that's my man," he said.
Philadelphia police say the suspected shooter, just 14 years old, is now in custody.
It's the second teen shooting in two days as a 14-year-old boy was reportedly an innocent bystander in an overnight shooting Monday on the 3100 block of Park Avenue in North Philadelphia.
"We've got a slight uptick in shootings in general, in period. I don't take any solace in the fact that we're not setting records," said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross. "We still have way too many shootings in this city."
Police statistics show so far this year there have been 854 shootings across the city, almost 100 more from the same time last year.
Numbers from Philadelphia police break down shooting incidents from 2012 to 2016 with the highest year-end totals at nearly 1,280.
"What you will never get from me or this department is that we are throwing our hands up like there's nothing we can do because we don't believe that," said Ross.
