'These People Are Cruel': Mother Of Sircarr Johnson Remembers Entrepreneur, New Father Killed At Fourth Of July Party
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Newly released surveillance video shows the moment gunmen opened fire in West Philadelphia on the Fourth of July, killing two men and leaving a 16-year-old wounded. Philadelphia police are still looking for the suspects.
Among those killed was 22-year-old Sircarr Johnson. He was hosting the get-together to celebrate his business' success.
A vigil was held Wednesday night for Sircarr amid calls again for an end to this violence.
Heavily armed private security kept watch on 60th Street, between Chestnut and Walnut Streets, as the screams of a mother rang out with the volume of 100 gunshots.
"These people are cruel. I knew they were going to take my baby," Pamela Owensby said.
Police say around 100 bullets were fired by four gunmen Sunday evening.
The brazen violence was captured on surveillance video, as four gunmen fired into a crowd celebrating a Fourth of July cookout in front of Premiere Bande clothing store.
A 16-year-girl was injured and two men were killed, including 21-year-old Salahaldin Mahmoud, a relative of state Sen. Shariff Street, and the store owner and cookout host, Sircarr Johnson.
"He was a young entrepreneur, 23," a man said.
In an interview with CBS3's Matt Petrillo, Owensby said her son was a new father.
"They got a baby girl," she said.
Through pain, she expressed a desire for more police patrols.
"I feel like people are even scared to become a cop because of the stuff that's going on out here," she said.
This as the city suffers a shortage of at least 300 officers and a record number of homicides this year.
In a Wednesday press briefing, Mayor Jim Kenney said the city is awaiting new federal funding, but that he is not prepared to implement a gun violence disaster emergency like the one declared in New York by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
"I don't know whether that is constitutional or not to be able to select particular neighborhoods," Kenney said, "so there is a whole range of questions, legal questions, practical questions that would need to be answered whether or not that would even be effective."
The vigil for Johnson concluded with a balloon release, a black-and-red reminder of another mother's pain.
Investigators say they have been able to collect evidence at the scene but it's been complicated to process because several of the attendees did fire back in self-defense.
There is a $20,000 reward for information about the gunmen.
