At least 4 people gunned down over 6 hours in Philadelphia

The fatal shootings took the city’s homicide rate to at least 445 this calendar year, according to statistics by the Philadelphia Police Department.

police car lights flashing

A police car is seen in a file photo. (Alexandru Cuznetov/MCT)

This article originally appeared on NBC10.

At least four people were shot dead in Philadelphia over the course of just a few hours Tuesday into Wednesday, adding to what is the city’s largest homicide number in over a decade.

The deceased were all men ranging in age from 21 to 50 years old, and they were shot in various parts of the city, police said.

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The eldest was shot in the stomach on the 5600 block of N. 4th Street, in the Olney neighborhood, shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday. Police rushed him to Albert Einstein Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead just before 9:30 p.m.

In the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood, two men, aged 44 and 45, were shot on the 3100 block of Arizona street a little after 9 p.m., police said. The 44-year-old died after sustaining gunshots to the chest and both legs. The second man was shot in the buttocks, chin and thigh and was taken to Temple University Hospital in unknown condition, police said.

Just a few hours later, shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday, a 21-year-old man was shot in the head and died at the scene near the intersection of S. 53rd Street and Willows Avenue in the Kingsessing neighborhood. Philadelphia Police Department Chief Inspector Scott Small said the man was gunned down just two doors down from his house. Detectives found four spent shell casings from a semiautomatic gun, and they were working to get footage from private surveillance cameras.

In North Philadelphia, a 29-year-old man was shot in the head on the 3100 block of Rosewood Street around 2 a.m. and died at the scene. Small said the man lived several miles away, and detectives were hoping to get surveillance video for more clues.

The fatal shootings took the city’s homicide rate to at least 445 this calendar year, according to statistics by the Philadelphia Police Department. That represents a 37% jump in homicides since the same time last year and is the city’s largest homicide number since at least 2007, when 391 people were killed by year’s end.

Find a list of resources for people affected by gun violence here.

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