2 killed, 4 wounded in shooting at Philadelphia home allegedly used to host 'illegal speakeasy'
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: A shooting at what appeared to be a speakeasy in Philadelphia early on Sunday morning left two people dead and four injured, according to police.
According to a news release from the department, the shooter or shooters appear to have fired from the street into a home on Myrtlewood Street, where Philadelphia police were called at 12:50 am on Sunday regarding a report of a person carrying a gun.
Shooting's motive is still unknown
According to Capt. Christopher Bradshaw, police arrived at the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood house just before one in Sunday morning.
As reported by Bradshaw, a 42-year-old who had also been shot in the chest and thigh, was declared dead at a neighboring hospital. A 53-year-old man who had been shot in the head, was also pronounced dead at the scene, WTAE reported.
After being shot in the hand, a 42-year-old man was transported to a hospital in stable condition. Bradshaw reported that three additional individuals with wounds thought to have been sustained during the same incident also showed up in private vehicles at nearby hospitals.
According to him, the victims included a woman, age 22, who was shot in the leg, a man, age 28, who was shot three times in the leg and hip, and a woman, age 33, who was shot twice in the arm. Everyone was in stable condition.
At least ten shots were fired, according to the police, as one or more individuals appeared to have opened fire from the street into the front door and a window of the building.
Bradshaw stated that no one has been arrested as of yet and that the shooting's motive is still unknown.
Based on preliminary information, police believe the house has been used as a speakeasy, the department stated in a release. In the course of the ongoing investigation, no one has been arrested yet.
Mayor announced public safety emergency
Philadelphia's newly appointed mayor, Cherelle Parker, announced a public safety emergency earlier this month.
The executive order mentioned more than 3,000 shootings in the city last year and alluded to the "aberrant and unacceptable levels of violent crime in Philadelphia."
Parker demanded that more police officers be assigned to patrol and that the city come up with a strategy to deal with the violence.
The Gun Violence Archive lists the deadly shooting as one of nine mass shootings that have occurred in the US in the first two weeks of the new year, as per CNN report.
This includes the mass shooting that occurred earlier this month at a high school in Iowa. A mass shooting is defined as one in which four or more people are injured or killed, excluding the shooter,