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Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Girl, 11, victim of hit-and-run speaks out: 'I can't believe somebody would just leave me on the street'
The Brief A young girl has broken bones and missing teeth from a hit-and-run. The family says police are looking for a black Jeep Cherokee with tinted windows. The incident happened Wednesday afternoon after school. PHILADELPHIA - A Philadelphia family is shaken after their 11-year-old was hit by a car in Juniata Park and the driver kept going. The young girl lost three teeth and suffered broken bones in her face. What we know Police say it happened Wednesday just after 4 p.m. Nylah Johnson Riley recalls crossing the street from near Dunkin to catch the number three bus waiting for her on the other side. It happened in the area of Kensington Avenue, Torresdale and Erie. She says a car she did not initially see came from around the bus and hit her. The family says police tell them they are looking for a black Jeep Cherokee with tinted windows and that a SEPTA bus camera may have captured the license plate. What they're saying "I just can't believe that," cried 11-year-old Nylah Johnson-Riley. "I can't believe somebody would just do that to me and just leave me on the street like that," she cried talking about a driver who hit her and kept going. "I couldn't believe that happened to me. Yesterday was the most scariest day of my life," she said from her home after doctors discharged her from St. Christopher's Hospital for Children Thursday evening. "My swelling is going down now and my bruises, like my arm, is still hurting," she said. Nylah's mother and grandmother are equally devastated over what happened. "She told my mom she thought she was dead. Knowing that she was experiencing that and you were just evil enough to leave her in the street," cried her mother, Jabria Johnson. "My heart dropped. My heart dropped," cried her grandmother Desiree Riley. "Just left her. How do you hit a kid and just leave her? She was so scared." Traumatic injuries Nylah lost three front teeth, has multiple broken bones on her face and nose and a bruised arm bone. Next Wednesday she will have the first of many surgeries to come. "You can't say you didn't see her when she flew. Look at my baby's face. She gotta experience this and look at herself," said her mother. "I wanted to speak today so that I could show awareness and so people could find the person that did this to me," said Nylah. The Source Information for this article was provided by the Philadelphia Police Department and the victim's family.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Summer festivities continue at Fairmount Park despite recent deadly mass shooting
The Brief Parks on Tap, a traveling beer garden throughout Philadelphia's neighborhoods, will be in Lemon Hill May 28–June 1. This comes just days after a mass shooting occurred in the Lemon Hill area on Memorial Day, leaving two killed and nine others injured. PHILADELPHIA - Days after a tragic shooting during a Memorial Day party in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia residents are returning to the park to enjoy summer festivities. Despite the violence, the community is determined to focus on positive experiences and continue celebrating in the city. The backstory Officers from the Philadelphia Police Department were called to the 800 block of Lemon Hill Drive around 10:30 p.m. for reports of a shooting. Police reported that two people were killed, and nine others were injured when nearly two dozen shots erupted at a Memorial Day gathering. Amya Devlin, 23, and Mikhail Bowers, 21, were identified as the two people that were killed in the shooting. Six of the nine shooting victims were teenagers, according to police, including a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl. All of those injured are in stable condition. Investigators at the scene Monday night were able to find 21 shell casings and after further searches early Tuesday morning, they found about a dozen more. What's New Philadelphia police have confirmed that five different guns were used in the shooting at Lemon Hill in Fairmount Park, initially believed to involve three shooters. The incident left crime scene tape marking the area, but the community is moving forward with events like Parks on Tap at the mansion, just steps away from where the shooting occurred. What they're saying Emily Della Rosa, attending with her newborn daughter Audrey, expressed confidence in the safety of the event: "I would never bring my daughter to something where I didn't feel perfectly safe." Dailey Delia, a Parks on Tap patron, acknowledged the city's violence but emphasized resilience: "Obviously there's a lot of violence throughout the city, all kinds of neighborhoods, and I think it's part of city living that you just sort of accept that risk and keep pushing on." Danielle Kudlacik shared her initial hesitation but decided to attend: "I did think about it. And I was like, hmmmm, I don't know if we should switch, but I didn't hear anything differently, so I was like, OK, I bet you if I still go out. If they haven't announced we're not doing it, then we're probably still fine to come out here." Alison Mesko appreciated the community's spirit: "Obviously it's horrible that it happened, but I'm glad that people are still out enjoying the night and that we're still able to get together." Jimmy Segilia highlighted the importance of continuing events: "You're living in a city, things are gonna happen sometimes, but it's bad when you see a couple of bad apples kind of ruin it for everyone else. I think it's important that they're still doing this event and know that it's a safe area, so I felt OK coming today." Local Perspective Philadelphia police presence added a sense of security as families enjoyed food and draft beers. Gary Kiefer, organizer of It's Better Outdoors, noted, "I know some people from my group were probably a little hesitant to come back out, but as of this morning, we still had about 50 people coming out tonight. It's horrible, obviously, but we're still gonna come out here because it's a cool spot." Rob Fumanti, a member of It's Better Outdoors, appreciated the park's appeal: "It's awesome, good view, it's nice, great weather, so no last thing is gonna keep you away from this exactly, yeah." Erin Dunkel echoed the sentiment: "I figured it's gonna be just something from that holiday weekend, and this is a beautiful park, so why not take advantage of it." Emily Della Rosa concluded with a focus on positivity: "You have to focus on the positive things in life, like having great coworkers and having a good time together. That's what it's all about."
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Deadly Fairmount Park shooting investigation: Everything we know after 2 killed, 9 injured on Memorial Day
The Brief Federal and local authorities are investigating a deadly mass shooting at Fairmount Park that killed two people and left nine others injured on Memorial Day. Mayor Cherelle Parker and other city leaders spoke out about next steps in the investigation. The victims' families and community members have expressed their heartbreak and concern after the deadly incident. PHILADELPHIA - An investigation continues after a mass shooting occurred at Fairmount Park on Memorial Day, killing two people and injuring nine others. The backstory Officers from the Philadelphia Police Department were called to the 800 block of Lemon Hill Drive around 10:30 p.m. for reports of a shooting. Police reported that two people were killed and nine others were injured when nearly two dozen shots erupted at a Memorial Day gathering. Amya Devlin, 23, and Mikhail Bowers, 21, were identified as the two people that were killed in the shooting. Six of the nine shooting victims were teenagers, according to police, including a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl. All of those injured are in stable condition. Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said investigators are searching social media for posts that may have hinted about the shooting before it happened. "We'll go through all the social media stuff that's come after and prior to see if there's anything I could have missed," Bethel told reporters. Mayor Cherelle Parker rebuked the shooting, calling it a "heinous act of violence that was inhumane with no regard for human life." She vowed to use all federal and local authorities to track down those responsible for the deadly gunfire. "This was wartime ammunition that was just opened on Philadelphians and those who were here in our city," she continued. Bethel continued, after chilling audio from the grisly scene was played, "That's the sound of war. So when you have an automatic weapon that you can empty a magazine, a 20-clip magazine in seconds, it is meant to kill, to create carnage and to hit as many people as possible. And in this case, you see, it was able to do that." Investigators believe at least one of the guns used in the Memorial Day shooting was illegally modified with a "switch" that makes it fire more rapidly. Investigators at the scene Monday night were able to find 21 shell casings and after further searches early Tuesday morning, they found about a dozen more. What we know Law enforcement sources say despite finding additional shell casings to the 21 previously collected, they still believe three guns were used in the shooting that killed 23-year-old Amya Devlin and 21-year-old Mikhail Bowers, and injured nine others, including six teenagers. They believe the investigation will rely heavily on ballistic and DNA evidence recovered from the scene, which will take some time, as well as reviewing social media and cooperation from witnesses. Sources say they are exploring the possibility, based on groups of casing found at the scene, that there was shooting back and forth, rather than a sole ambush of gunfire. Most of the victims have told investigators a similar story, according to sources, that it was crowded, dark outside, there were sudden gunshots and then an effort to try to get to safety. During the Tuesday morning press conference, Commissioner Kevin Bethel said starting this weekend, there will be a deployment plan that puts officers in the park. "The intelligence is coming through our portal, it's not fast enough. Our portal is not fast enough. We need to evolve and so we're going to be putting a number of different law enforcement assets into the park to identify activity ahead with the hope that we can stave off these activities before they occur," he said. What they're saying After an emotional response to the deadly Memorial Day shooting at Fairmount Park during Tuesday morning's press conference, on Wednesday, Mayor Chelle Parker told FOX 29 the city will continue with what she calls a holistic approach to public safety. "We're going to continue doing what we're doing because we do know it's working, and that is our public safety strategy to focus on prevention, intervention, and enforcement," she said. Mayor Parker continued by saying the comprehensive approach includes partnerships with Parks and Recreation, among others. She says it's not just a police issue, but also points to the reduction in homicides so far this year. "The data is not subjective, it does not lie, the numbers are the numbers, the city of Philadelphia is outpacing every other city, I'm talking about across the country, in the number of homicides, we need to make sure we continue moving in that direction," she said. "That's going to mean some hard decisions from time to time."
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Fully automatic gun used in deadly Memorial Day mass shooting in Philadelphia park: Police
Two people were killed and nine others were injured when a barrage of gunfire erupted on Memorial Day in Philadelphia's largest municipal park, one of a series of mass shootings across the nation over the long holiday weekend, authorities said. The Philadelphia shooting unfolded at Fairmount Park around 10:30 p.m. on Monday, the final day of Memorial Day weekend, according to the Philadelphia Police Department. The shooting left a 23-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman dead, police said. Those wounded included three juveniles ranging from age 15 to 17, authorities said. "As your mayor, I want to affirm to all of Philadelphia today that there are no excuses for this. This is a heinous act of violence that was inhumane, no regard for life," Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said at a news conference on Tuesday. Parker said that from the different caliber shell casings investigators collected at the crime scene, police believe that at least three gunmen opened fire in the incident. No arrests have been announced and detectives were working Tuesday afternoon to identify those responsible for the shooting, authorities said. "This was wartime ammunition that was just opened on Philadelphians and those who were here in our city," an emotional Parker said. MORE: 11-year-old boy accidentally shot to death by sibling inside of their home Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said at Tuesday's news conference that numerous shots were fired in the incident and that investigators suspect at least one of the firearms used in the shooting was equipped with a switch, a device converts some semiautomatic handguns into fully-automatic weapons. "I talked to my SWAT team. We're pretty confident, but we don't have the weapon in hand, that a switch was involved," Bethel said. "You cannot fire that many levels of bullets with such speed and time without having some type of switch on it." Bethel said it remains unclear if any of the victims were targets of the shooting. Mayor Parker said Philadelphia police are working with the FBI, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Marshals to bring the perpetrators to justice. "We will not be held hostage by anyone who decides that they want to get assault-like, war-like weaponry, guns with switches," Parker said. Fairmount Park, which spans 2,052 acres and is divided by the Schuylkill River, was busy throughout the day Monday and into the evening, with families and members of the community attending Memorial Day get-togethers and barbecues, Bethel said. He said Park Rangers contacted police around 8:15 p.m., expressing concerns about the number of people in the park, prompting officers to begin clearing out the park. Bethel said it was unclear how many people were in the park when the shooting broke out. MORE: Torture charges filed against 3 family members accused of abusing 6 children The Philadelphia shooting came amid a violent holiday weekend across the country. Between Friday evening and Monday night, at least five mass shootings occurred throughout the nation, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a website that tracks U.S. shootings. The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as at least four people wounded or killed in a single event, not including the shooters. At least six people were wounded in a shooting Saturday night in Colorado Springs, Colorado, police said. A 25-year-old man was arrested and charged with attempted murder in the Colorado Springs shooting and police said they were investigating whether others were involved. In Little River, South Carolina, a suburb of Myrtle Beach, 11 people were injured when gunfire broke out on a docked charter boat, according to the Horry County Police Department. Ten of the victims suffered gunshot wounds and one suffered a non-gunfire-related injury. Police said the shooting occurred as the result of an altercation during a private Memorial Day weekend gathering. No arrests in the Little River shooting have been announced. MORE: 11-year-old boy accidentally shot to death by sibling inside of their home In Jackson, Tennessee, seven people, including juveniles, were wounded in a mass shooting that erupted at the city's Kate Campbell Park around 8:41 p.m. on Saturday, according to the Jackson Police Department. No arrests had been announced as of Tuesday afternoon. "Our City of Jackson parks are designed to be a place of community. They are places we ALL can visit, and enjoy being outdoors playing, staying fit, having a picnic, or just relaxing. They should be a refuge for our children and families, safe from any suggestion of harm," Jackson police Chief Thom Corley said in a letter to his community he released on Monday. "When that atmosphere is disrupted by the acts of one or more people who disregard the safety of the rest of us, I become upset and discouraged. I'm sure many of you feel the same." Corley added, "When those acts injure children, the most precious asset to our community, I, like many of you, get very angered. I can also assure you, each Officer and staff member of the Jackson Police Department is determined to seek justice for the victims and their families, and we will prosecute fully, those responsible." Fully automatic gun used in deadly Memorial Day mass shooting in Philadelphia park: Police originally appeared on
6 days ago
Mass shooting leaves 2 dead, 9 injured in Philadelphia park
The shooting took place at Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on Monday evening, the final day of the long Memorial Day weekend, according to the Philadelphia Police Department.
