One person was killed and five others were injured in violent incidents this weekend, with four of the victims in critical condition.
Police early Friday morning found Rhonda Williams, 46, of the 1900 block of Brunner Street in Nicetown, shot in the back of the head. She died around 2:30 a.m. in an alleyway near Brunner Street and Wayne Avenue, mere feet from her residence.
A woman, 66, was severely beaten during a West Philadelphia robbery on the 5700 block of Cherry Street shortly before 9 a.m. Friday. Investigators said the victim, who was found lying on the sidewalk, told them that she remembers a man grabbing and punching her while saying, “Give me your money.” The suspect made away with a small purse containing cigarettes and an ATM card.
The woman was rushed to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where she is being treated for multiple facial fractures. Police are looking for a black male with a dark complexion wearing a dark hoodie, a dark green t-shirt, tan cargo shorts and black sneakers.
Officers on routine patrol in West Philadelphia stumbled on a man, 18, with numerous stab wounds lying on the sidewalk at 52nd and Race streets shortly before 1:15 a.m. Saturday morning. The victim, who had multiple cuts to his head, face, arms and body, is in critical condition at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Investigators followed a blood trail to the 5100 block of Funston Street in Mill Creek, about a half mile away, and believe that’s where the incident occurred.
Officers responding to a report of gunshots about two hours later at North 23rd and West Diamond streets in North Philadelphia saw a silver late model Buick speeding from the scene. The car soon pulled up to the ramp of Temple University Hospital’s emergency room, where two men were seen assisting a third man, 18, who was shot in the chest. He is in extremely critical condition.
The gunman is described as an unknown heavyset, five-foot-eight to five-foot-ten-inch black male wearing a light blue t-shirt with white writing and khaki shorts.
Police responding to a report of a person with a gun in Parkside found a
man, 42, with multiple gunshot wounds to the head, legs, buttocks and
groin on the 4100 block of Parkside Avenue shortly before 10 p.m.
Saturday night. The victim was on the street outside his 2003 BMW, which
had a bullet mark near its trunk.
The man was rushed to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he is in critical condition.
Police in Feltonville found a man, 47, shot in the neck inside his red 2002 Jeep Liberty around the 4200 block of North Bodine Street shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday morning. He was taken to Temple University Hospital, where he is in critical condition after undergoing surgery.
No arrests have yet been made in any of this weekend’s incidents. At 211 victims as of midnight yesterday, the year-to-date homicide total has surpassed that of any year since Mayor Michael Nutter took office in 2008. 38 more people have been killed than on this date in 2008 and there are only 37 fewer victims than this date in 2007, a notoriously violent year that police use as the bloody benchmark against which crime-fighting progress is measured.
