Police ID three New Year’s shooting victims

As last year closed with 331 homicides – the highest year-end total since Mayor Michael Nutter took office in 2008 – a trio of homicides ushered in 2013.

A total of five people were shot within the first four hours of New Year’s Day. Police said the violence first broke out around 12:30 a.m. on the 5600 block of Carpenter Street in West Philadelphia.

Sixteen-year-old Jaymire Rustin was shot in the chest about a block and a half from his home. He died at the Hospital of University of Pennsylvania shortly before 1 a.m. Investigators suspect the motive was an argument.

Tyjuan Shields, 24, was shot in the head on the 1600 block of Pratt Street in Frankford about two hours later. Police said he died on the scene.

One man was killed and two other men were injured when someone opened fire into a home on the 1700 block of Venango Street in Tioga around 3:40 a.m. Police said 23-year-old Stephen Johnson, who lived a short distance away on the 1300 block of West Allegheny Avenue, died shortly after 4 a.m.

A second man, 22, was shot twice in the chest and is in critical condition at Temple University Hospital, while a third 22-year-old male victim is in stable condition at Albert Einstein Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the foot.

Police said another man is hospitalized in critical condition after he was shot around 11:30 p.m. last night on the 7100 block of Guyer Avenue in the Eastwick section of West Philadelphia.

The victim, 34, was hit three times in the leg, reportedly after he responded to a knock on his front door.

Investigators have not yet made any arrests in this year’s shootings.
Anyone with information is asked to call 911, or to submit an anonymous tip by dialing 215-686-TIPS (8477), texting PPD TIP (773847), emailing [email protected] or filling out this online form.