A 14-year-old boy and two men were shot at SEPTA's 56th Street Station in West Philadelphia on Sunday night, with one of the men left in critical condition. The shooting occurred around 6:45 p.m. at 5600 Market Street, sending three victims to area hospitals and leaving investigators searching for a shooter and a weapon that have yet to turn up.
According to NBC Philadelphia, police said the teenager was struck twice in the arm and twice in the thigh. A 25-year-old man was shot once in the arm and twice in the back, while a 26-year-old man bore the worst of it, hit five times throughout his body. Per the CBS News Philadelphia account of the shooting, the 14-year-old was struck in his left arm twice and upper right thigh twice, while the 26-year-old was hit five times throughout his body, taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, and placed in critical condition; the teen and the 25-year-old were listed as stable.
Confusion Over Exactly How the Shooting Unfolded
Details on the mechanics of the attack vary slightly depending on the account. The station sits on SEPTA's Market-Frankford Line. A SEPTA spokesperson said two people were struck by gunfire outside the station and another was shot in the station vestibule, according to CBS News Philadelphia. NBC Philadelphia's report places the shooting on the station platform, differing from the SEPTA spokesperson's account. Both outlets agree on the core outcome: three people wounded, no weapon recovered, and no one in custody.
Investigators have not released any information about a suspect, and NBC Philadelphia reports that police have not recovered a weapon and made no arrests in connection with the shooting. The Philadelphia Police Department has asked anyone with information to come forward, though it remains unclear whether a single shooter was involved or if the victims knew one another.
Part of a Violent Stretch Across the City
The SEPTA station shooting came just a day after a string of Halloween-night shootings in Philadelphia killed three people, including a 15-year-old, and injured seven others, according to police cited by CBS News Philadelphia. Separately, 6abc reported that at least six people were shot, three fatally, in separate shootings across the city within a 24-hour span.
That same 6abc report noted that SEPTA riders and workers have repeatedly found themselves caught in the city's gun violence. An 88-year-old retired SEPTA driver, Richard Butler, was shot twice in the chest and killed while sitting in his own car in West Philadelphia, the outlet reported. Elsewhere in the city, a 41-year-old man was shot to death near Rosehill and East Tioga streets in Kensington, a 17-year-old was killed and four others hurt after gunfire broke out at a bus stop in the Ogontz neighborhood, and 27-year-old Sawee Kofa was shot and killed after an argument on a SEPTA bus in Oxford Circle. A 37-year-old man was also killed while riding a SEPTA Route 79 bus in South Philadelphia — what 6abc described as the third shooting involving a SEPTA rider within that same week.
Gun Violence Across Philadelphia
Shootings have continued across Philadelphia, including incidents involving SEPTA riders and workers.
Whatever the citywide trend, Sunday's shooting adds another SEPTA station to the list of transit sites touched by gun violence this year. No further updates on the investigation, the condition of the 26-year-old man, or any potential suspects had been released as of the latest reporting.
