Memorial Day mass shooting at Philadelphia park leaves 2 dead, 8 injured
A mass shooting in Philadelphia Monday night has left at least two people dead and eight others injured by the gunfire, according to reports.
Two of the shooting victims are juveniles, although their precise ages are not yet known.
3 A mass shooting in Philadelphia Monday night has left at least two people dead and eight others injured by the gunfire.
FOX 29 Philadelphia
Advertisement
The shooting occurred at Fairmount Park at around 10:30 p.m. near the corner of Lemon Hill Drive and Poplar Drive, cops said.
Witnesses told Fox 29 that bullets rang out during a cookout in the park with a large crowd.
'It was a drive-by,' one witness said.
Advertisement
'Everybody scattered,' another said, adding that two people 'dropped' after the gunfire.
The shooting happened at a car meet-up, according to CBS News.
3 The shooting occurred at Fairmount Park at around 10:30 p.m. near the corner of Lemon Hill Drive and Poplar Drive.
FOX 29 Philadelphia
3 The shooting happened at a car meet-up.
FOX 29 Philadelphia
Advertisement
An additional victim was taken to the hospital after being hit by a car in the chaos that erupted in the wake of the shooting, according to the outlet.
Fairmount Park was busy all day with cookouts and family activities for Memorial Day, according to WPVI.
Police shut down the park following the shooting as the investigation was ongoing.
Philadelphia police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Our View: As the heat spikes, so do drownings
Triple-digit temperatures are predicted for this weekend. Beyond that, the days are expected to be not much cooler. It is a reminder that the blistering Bakersfield summer has started, and residents and visitors will look to water for relief. But danger lurks in the many local swimming pools and the even bigger attraction, the Kern River. Urging pool safety during a recent press conference, Kern County health officials promoted the department's Water Watcher program, which calls for designating adults to always keep close tabs on children frolicking around backyard pools. They cited federal findings that drowning is the leading cause of unintentional, injury-related death for children ages 1 to 4. On average, 350 children under the age of 5 lose their lives to drowning every year in the United States. Within the past five years, 16 children in Kern County have lost their lives to drowning: two in the Kern River, two in bathtubs and 12 in swimming pools. In advance of the Memorial Day Weekend last month, county officials performed a grisly annual tradition — updating Kern Canyon entry signs to warn of the Kern River's danger. This year, the number of drownings posted on the signs went from 334 to 342. Eight people were taken by the Kern in 2024. Last year's July 4th holiday was particularly deadly. Four people drowned. The count, which began in 1968, doesn't include people who died in the upper Kern River, in Tulare County, which doesn't keep drowning statistics on its section of river. It also doesn't include people who are still missing and presumed dead in the river. 'We tell the public this every year: The Kern River is dangerous,' said Sgt. Rodney Jones, who oversees the Kern County Sheriff's Office's search and rescue division. 'Do not go in it without professional guides or gear.' The water is cold and deceptively fast with numerous hidden hazards — branches, rocks, debris — that can snag you, trap you and pull you under, he said. The division posts additional search and rescue teams on holidays along the river to respond to emergencies and remind people about the dangers. Asked if Kern officials would consider closing off the river, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood responded with a firm NO. 'The river is a public place and there's way too many access points for us to patrol,' he said. 'You can't legislate stupidity. If you need to be told to stay out of that river, there's something wrong with you.' Youngblood is right. It's up to all of us to heed repeated warnings and keep ourselves, families and friends safe. ■ Watch children closely. Never let them into the river unattended. ■ Do not go in the river if you can't swim. ■ Use adequate flotation devices, not drug store floaties. ■ Make sure someone in your party can contact 911. Service in the canyon is sketchy. ■ Alcohol (or other mind-altering substances) do not mix well with the river. Several river rafting companies operate along the Kern. They offer safe and varying trips — depending on people's interests and experience. SJV Water, a local news outlet that covers water issues, reports that with less snowfall this year, the river will be running lower than in recent past years. But even though the water flow is lower, Jones noted that most people are not able to climb out if they are trapped on a rock. As evidence, on Sunday a man was found dead in the river. The man had gone missing after swimming in Isabella Lake without a flotation device. Just a few days later, a teenage girl was rescued from a tree in the river at Hart Park, just 90 minutes after another person was rescued from the same area, according to the Kern County Sheriff's Office. They were brought to shore uninjured. Again, the Kern County Sheriff's Office urged the public to always wear a U.S. Coast Guard-approved lifejacket when in or near the river. 'Despite appearing calm in some areas, the river's cold temperatures, swift currents and hidden hazards can quickly turn deadly,' KCSO once again warned in a news release.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
How Did Richard Ramirez Die? Here's Why the Night Stalker's Demise Didn't Happen on Death Row 12 Years Ago
Serial killer Richard Ramirez — known as the "Night Stalker" — murdered at least 13 people in the Los Angeles area from 1984 to 1985 He was sentenced to death in 1989 He died in in 2013 at 53 years oldRichard Ramirez — a.k.a. the Night Stalker — terrorized Los Angeles with his twisted crimes in the 1980s. From April 1984 to August 1985, Ramirez killed at least 13 people, sneaking into their homes in the middle of the night through open windows and unlocked doors, per CBS News. But his trail of terror didn't stop there: Ramirez also robbed, raped and beat many others, using a wide variety of weapons (including handguns, knives and even a tire iron) to inflict his brutality, according to CBS. The randomness of his attacks and methods left authorities perplexed — and allowed Ramirez to escape capture for more than a year. However, the Texas-born murderer was eventually caught on Aug. 31, 1985, as he attempted to steal a car in East L.A. An angry mob of citizens — who recognized him from media coverage as the Night Stalker — surrounded him, beating him with a steel rod until police arrived. It would take another four years for Ramirez to be brought to trial for his crimes. But on Sept. 20, 1989, the man known as the Night Stalker was found guilty of all 43 counts — including 13 counts of murder, five attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults and 14 burglaries. Ramirez was given a total of 13 death sentences, and was sentenced to be executed by gas chamber, The New York Times reported. Ramirez died in June 2013 at 53 years old, according to the Los Angeles Times. 'He never showed any remorse for what he had done,' Frank Salerno, one of the detectives who helped capture Ramirez, said in the 2017 Reelz docuseries Murder Made Me Famous. 'He was pure evil.' So how did Richard Ramirez die? From the Night Stalker's final days to his continued notoriety, here's everything to know about his death behind bars. Ramirez died while awaiting execution for the string of horrific crimes he committed in California between 1984 and 1985. Initially, California corrections officials stated that Ramirez died of natural causes, per the Los Angeles Times. However, a coroner's report released 10 days after his death revealed that he had died due to complications from blood cancer. According to the Marin County coroner's office, Ramirez had B-cell lymphoma — a common form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It was not clear when Ramirez had been diagnosed with cancer or whether he had been receiving treatment for it. Additionally, Ramirez had other significant conditions at the time of his death, including 'chronic substance abuse and chronic hepatitis C viral infection.' The drug abuse occurred prior to Ramirez's imprisonment (more than two decades earlier) and was likely the cause of his hepatitis C infection, the Marin County assistant chief deputy coroner told USA Today. 'It's likely something that he has been dealing with for years,' the coroner said about Ramirez's hepatitis C infection, per USA Today. 'It's killing your liver.' Shortly after his capture and arrest, a friend of Ramirez's named Donna Myers confirmed that Ramirez had started to use cocaine the year prior, dissolving it in water and shooting it up. (Hepatitis C is often spread by the use of intravenous drugs, per USA Today.) 'He had cut marks, you know, tracks, running across his left arm,' Myers told PEOPLE about Ramirez's extensive drug abuse. 'He broke off a needle in his arm one day... he got so hooked on cocaine he just got wigged out.' Ramirez died at 9:10 a.m. on June 7, 2013, according to the Los Angeles Times. Ramirez died at Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, Calif., according to the Los Angeles Times. He had been admitted to the hospital earlier in the week from San Quentin State Prison, where he had been on death row since receiving his sentence in 1989. Ramirez, who was born on Feb. 29, 1960, was 53 years old when he died. While Ramirez's final words before his death are unknown, his statements at his sentencing made it clear that he did not fear dying. When the jury recommended the death penalty on 19 different counts at his October 1989 trial, Ramirez appeared unbothered. 'Big deal,' he told reporters, per the Los Angeles Times. 'Death comes with the territory. See you in Disneyland.' At his sentencing one month later, in November 1989, Ramirez delivered a chilling monologue to the packed courtroom — which included members of his family, victims who survived his attacks and relatives of those he killed. 'You don't understand me. You are not expected to. You are not capable of it. I am beyond your experience,' Ramirez said, according to the Los Angeles Times. He continued, 'I am beyond good and evil. I will be avenged. Lucifer dwells in us all. That's it.' Emotions surrounding Ramirez's death were mixed. Some expressed relief over the end of the serial killer's life, while others felt disappointed that he did not face the execution by gas chamber that he was sentenced to. Law enforcement officials viewed the death of the notorious serial killer as the closing of 'a dark chapter in the history of Los Angeles,' NBC Los Angeles reported. Though Ramirez was never executed, Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Alan Yochelson expressed to the Los Angeles Times that 'some measure of justice has been achieved,' since the notorious killer lived out the last two-plus decades of his life behind bars. Many of Ramirez's surviving victims and relatives of those he killed, however, felt that the killer known as the Night Stalker did not deserve to live as long as he did. 'It's about time,' Bill Carns, one of the last people attacked by Ramirez, told the Los Angeles Times. 'He should have been put to death an awful long time ago.' Reyna Pinon, the wife of one of the men who helped capture Ramirez, echoed a similar sentiment: 'To me, he had a better death than all those people whose lives he took,' she said. Doreen Lioy, a freelance magazine editor who Ramirez married in 1996 while in prison, declined to comment to reporters following Ramirez's death. However, Ramirez's relatives in El Paso, Texas, released a statement asking for privacy. 'We are mourning the loss of our son and brother, Richard Ramirez,' the family told the El Paso Times. 'The world judged him, whether fairly or unfairly, it no longer matters. He is now before the true judge, the judge that sees and knows all things. We ask that you respect our sorrow and grief.' Ramirez's reputation as one of the most notorious serial killers in history has lived on since his 2013 death — particularly in the L.A. area. Signs of the terror the Night Stalker inflicted on southern Californians in the 1980s still remain intact today. 'Everybody kept their windows open and he was crawling in windows,' Tiller Russell, who directed the 2021 Netflix docuseries Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer, told PEOPLE. 'So to this day in L.A., when you drive around, that's why there are bars on the windows.' The haunting memory of Ramirez has also been kept alive through pop culture references, with his life and crimes inspiring songs, television shows, films and documentaries. Since Ramirez's death, the 2016 film The Night Stalker, the 2024 film MaXXXine, episodes of American Horror Story and multiple documentaries and docuseries have all told his sadistic story. Read the original article on People
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Boston Globe
Plymouth cafeteria director charged with ordering lobster, stealing kitchen equipment equipment, for use at his Cape Cod snack shack
His bail was set at $50,000. If he posts it, VanCott must stay away from all Plymouth schools and storage facilities if released, the statement said. He is due back in court July 21. VanCott has been employed as the food services director for Plymouth Public Schools since 2003, according to his Advertisement He was first flagged by authorities on May 30 after they received an anonymous tip that someone was stealing food and equipment from Plymouth Community Intermediate School. Since VanCott was the only person authorized to place cafeteria orders, he was quickly identified as the suspect, the statement said. A review of purchase records revealed premium Angus burgers, hot dogs, lobster, and other items that were never served students or staff, according to the statement—and all of which appear on the Snack Shack's Advertisement Investigators also spoke with cafeteria employees, who said that for years, once a week between Memorial Day and Labor Day, VanCott had them pack bags of deli turkey and ham marked with his initials, for no apparent school use. They also said that he routinely took condiments, snacks, paper goods, coffee and other supplies from the kitchen, according to the statement. Additionally, VanCott allegedly purchased more than $8,300 worth of kitchen equipment which was not found in the cafeteria or school storage, the statement said. This includes under-counter refrigerators and freezers, a refrigerated sandwich table, convection oven, microwave, bagel warmer, coffee maker and two fry pans. Surveillance footage from a Saturday allegedly shows him loading one of those under-counter refrigerators onto a town-owned truck and later returning in his personal pickup to transport a second unit. Additional video from the State Police Fusion Center then shows his pickup crossing the Sagamore Bridge with the stolen refrigerator secured in its bed, bound for Cape Cod, the statement said. The investigation is ongoing. Rita Chandler can be reached at
