Series of shootings over warm weekend results in 13 victims and two deaths

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Mayor Cherelle Parker said 13 people were shot and two died over the weekend from shootings that she called “unacceptable.”

“Every homicide victim was somebody’s son or brother or father or uncle or daughter, sister, mother or aunt,” Parker said at City Hall on Monday afternoon. “These are human beings we are talking about and not statistics and we grieve their loss and their suffering. It should not have to be this way.”

Even though shootings and homicides dropped dramatically in 2024 and have stayed lower in 2025 than in recent years, Parker said the senseless loss of life has to stop.

“We cannot and will not rest,” Parker said. “I won’t as mayor until every resident and every neighborhood feels safe in their homes, go into school, or walk in their community because you can have stats and data, but it doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t feel good walking to the supermarket.”

Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said among the incidents was a murder-suicide. He said his department will work even harder to keep violence down in Philadelphia.

While not drawing a direct link to the warm weather over the weekend and the uptick in violence, city leaders are preparing for the increase in crime that often accompanies the seasonal change in temperatures.

“I hate when the weather gets warm,” Public Safety Director Adam Geer said. “For those folks who do violence prevention work, you know why I hate when the weather gets warm. I look at my app, I see what’s the weather on Friday and Saturday: warm and sunny. Hate it.”

“The reality of it is, some young folks are going to come out and they might get into some stuff.”

Parker said the city plans to offer more summer jobs to give young people more opportunities to do things rather than getting into trouble. Announcements are expected later this week on the workforce programs.

Bethel said police has leads on several cases from this weekend, and he is not “letting up on the gas” to keep the violence down in the city.

Overall violence numbers are still down for this year. According to Bethel, as of this time in 2023, 105 people had been killed in Philadelphia. Last year by this time, the number of homicides dropped to 69. So far this year as of March 30, 50 people have been killed in the city.