7 people were shot, 3 fatally, over less than 6 hours in Philadelphia on Wednesday

Seven people were shot in Philadelphia on Wednesday in four separate incidents around the city. Three of the victims died.

All in less than six hours.

Police say an 18-year-old man was shot in the throat at approximately 3:13 p.m. in the area of 17th Street and Erie Avenue in North Philadelphia. He was pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital less than 20 minutes later.

At approximately 7:34 p.m., a triple-shooting in South Philadelphia left a 55-year-old man dead and injured a 47-year-old man and another man, who is approximately 25-years-old, according to police. The 55-year-old was shot in the chest and left hand. He was pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital. The 47-year-old is in stable condition after suffering gunshot wounds to his legs. The 25-year-old is also in stable condition after suffering gunshot wounds to both legs.

Less than an hour later, police say a 22-year-old man was shot three times in the chest and twice in his back in Southwest Philadelphia, according to police. He was pronounced dead at 8:39 p.m. at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.

At 8:24 p.m., police say a man, approximately 20-year-old was shot once in the chest in West Philadelphia. He is in stable condition at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Officers apprehended three men and recovered three weapons from the scene.

Police have not yet released the names of the victims.

Police have not arrested anyone or recovered any weapons in connection to the other three incidents.

Wednesday’s violence comes as shootings and homicides continue to surge at historic levels and police struggle to make arrests in both fatal and non-fatal shooting cases.

A total of 83 people have been murdered so far this year, a 28% increase over the same time in 2020, the deadliest year in three decades.

More than 300 people have been shot, more than 50 fatally.

Through the first two months of the year, the department cleared just 12% of non-fatal shootings and 26% of fatal shootings, according to police. Those figures were 29% and 49% respectively by the end of February 2020.

To date, the homicide clearance rate is 49%. It was 60% at the same point in 2020.

Activist Jamal Johnson resumed his hunger strike outside City Hall on Monday, saying Mayor Jim Kenney has not acted with urgency to stem the crisis and calling on him to host public updates about the city’s anti-violence efforts, as it does with COVID-19. A spokesperson for the Kenney administration said more details on that are coming soon.

Johnson’s previous hunger strike lasted 26 days.

“Every time I turn around somebody I know, knows somebody that’s either been shot or killed,” Johnson told WHYY’s Billy Penn. “Every week, somebody is telling me about somebody else.”