'It Doesn't Get Much Worse Than This:' 5-Year-Old Boy Shot, Sister Suffers Graze Wound While Trick-Or-Treating
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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Philadelphia police are investigating after they say two children were injured in a shooting while trick-or-treating on Wednesday night.
It happened around 6:20 p.m. on the 5700 block of North Hope Street in the Olney section of the city.
According to police, two men were reportedly shooting at each other when two siblings, a 5-year-old boy and a 14-year-old, were struck by gunfire. Police say one or both of the suspected shooters were wearing red and white masks.
"We know that they were trick-or-treating because on the crime scene just inches from this shell casings we found a plastic container, a pumpkin, with the candy spilled out," said Chief Inspector Scott Small.
The 5-year-old boy was shot in the leg and a 14-year-old girl suffered a graze wound to the leg.
"It doesn't get much worse than this," Captain Malachi Jones of the Northwest Detective Division said Thursday. "This is a five-year-old kid we're talking about. It's just awful. Total disregard for public safety, total disregard for children out trick-or-treating. It's just an awful set of events."
Both victims were transported to an area hospital. The sister has since been released from the hospital. The little boy is in stable condition at Saint Christopher's hospital.
"The police officers that were there, came in talked to my son, gave him candy and everything, because the most thing he was sad about was he went out to get candy and he got shot," mother Dominique Wise said. "He won't be walking until who knows he's OK. My daughter is at home she's OK.
Wise also said her children have no interest in trick-or-treating ever again.
"So he said he doesn't want to trick-or-treat anymore, but he really did want some candy," she said.
No arrests have been made and no weapon was recovered.
Anyone with any information is asked to call police at 215-686-TIPS.
