Philadelphia Police Department Has Vacancies For 300 Officers As City Faces Record Number Of Homicides
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia police have released surveillance video of a deadly triple shooting during a Fourth of July cookout. Security video shows a crowd of people running for their lives as four gunmen fired more than 100 shots during a cookout on Sunday.
It happened on the corner of 60th and Walnut Streets in West Philadelphia just before 11 p.m. Sunday.
Officers now need help identifying those suspects.
"They had firearms, they had lasers connected to some of the firearms, as witnesses reported to us," Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Frank Vanore said.
Police say the shooting left a 16-year-old girl hurt and killed two men -- 21-year-old Salahaldin Mahmoud and 22-year-old Sicarr Johnson. Johnson owned a clothing store and was also a new father.
"They have a baby girl and I have a granddaughter who don't have a daddy," said Pamela Owensby, Johnson's mother.
Johnson's grieving mother, speaking exclusively to Eyewitness News, wants the city to put more officers on the streets.
"It's sad because I feel like people are even scared to become a cop because of the stuff that's going on out here," she said.
As Philadelphia faces a record number of homicides this year, Eyewitness News found the city's police department has vacancies for 300 officers.
"Officers have gone through a very difficult time in the last year-plus. Many have decided to not do this job anymore," Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said.
Neighbors also acknowledge joining a police force today isn't easy.
"We can't even get people to protect us. It's crazy," Owensby said.
Philadelphia's homicide rate is over 280 people so far this year. More people were killed in Philadelphia just six months into this year than in all of 2013.
