Police: 14-Year-Old Boy Shot Twice, Killed In Olney
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A 14-year-old boy was shot and killed in Philadelphia's Olney section, police said Thursday. It happened just after 5 p.m. on the 5900 block of Mascher Street.
Authorities said the teen was shot once in his chest and once in his back. According to police, he was rushed to Einstein Medical Center, where he was pronounced at 5:25 p.m.
More than 100 children under the age of 18 have been shot in the city so far this year. He is now one of 457 people to be murdered in Philly in 2020.
According to authorities, the 14-year-old was not from the area and they don't know what he was doing in Olney at that time
"We're not sure if he was the intended target or if he was struck by stray gunfire because at the intersection we found 10 spent shell casings from a semi-automatic weapon," Philadelphia Police Chief Insp. Scott Small said.
Police have spoken to a 21-year-old person of interest. At this time they don't have a motive and there have been no arrests.
Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson is the chairman of the Special Committee on Gun Violence Prevention. He's been working to curve the growing problem.
"First and foremost, it's totally unacceptable the level of gun violence that we're seeing in the streets of Philadelphia, and most importantly, we have to address this issue with a sense of aggression and outrage. We need to do more to protect our young people," Johnson said. "As a city, we need to step up and do everything we can to address this issue of senseless gun violence. We lose way too many children to senseless gun violence. We're losing way too many young people to senseless gun violence.
"It's time for all of us to roll up our sleeves and get involved. That means our elected officials, our district attorney, our police commissioner but most importantly, the community," Johnson added. "I think the community needs to be sick and tired of being sick and tired of seeing children being shot in the streets of Philadelphia and have a sense of outrage when it comes to our young people being shot down in these shootings. … I put a call out to every community activist, every community leader, every person concerned about this issue -- they need to make some noise, to get involved to make sense of this issue of senseless gun violence."
The number of homicides in the city has already exceeded all of 2019 with less than a month left.
Earlier Thursday afternoon in North Philadelphia, a man was shot multiple times and killed around 4:15 p.m. at Lawrence Street and Indiana Avenue. There are no arrests in that case either.
CBS3's Kimberly Davis and Dan Koob contributed to this report.
For a list of gun violence resources in Philadelphia, click here.
MORE ON CBSPHILLY.COM
