AP – Police said on Wednesday that eight Philadelphia high school students waiting to board a city bus after classes were wounded by gunshots from suspects who jumped from a car and opened fire, the fourth shooting on the transit system in as many days.
The previous three shootings each involved a fatality. Those wounded at the bus stop included a 16-year-old who was hit nine times and was in critical condition, the city’s Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said at a news conference.
Police said later that a second victim was also in critical condition.
The others were said to be in stable condition. Bethel said the Northeast High School students, ranging in age from 15 to 17, were waiting for the bus around 3pm when three people emerged from the car, which was waiting at the scene, and fired more than 30 shots. Police said the attackers were masked and the car was a dark blue Hyundai Sonata.
Police then received numerous 911 calls about a “mass shooting on the highway near Dunkin’ Donuts”, in northeast Philadelphia, according to police spokesperson Tanya Little.
The injured teens were taken to Einstein Medical Center and Jefferson Torresdale Hospital, according to a spokesperson for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA John Golden. Two buses – a Route 18 bus and a Route 67 bus – were hit by gunfire, but there were no reports of injuries to passengers or the driver.
Deputy Chief of Communications for the Philadelphia school district Monique Braxton, said the shooting occurred near Crossan Elementary, which was dismissing students at the time but pulled them back inside and locked down. It later got an all-clear from police.
