- Eight Northeast High School students were shot after gunmen opened fire at a SEPTA bus stop on Wednesday around 3pm
- The students, between the ages of 15 and 17 were injured after three gunmen exited a vehicle and fired more than 30 times
- This is the fourth shooting at a SEPTA bus stop in the past few days
Eight students were shot after gunmen opened fire on a Philadelphia SEPTA bus stop as the teens waited for a ride home from their high school.
Shots rang out around 3pm Wednesday at Rising Sun and Cottman avenues in Northeast Philly.
Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said that the students, between the ages of 15 and 17 were shot after three gunmen exited a vehicle near a Dunkin Donuts location and more than 30 shots were fired.
‘At some point when the bus is pulling up and the kids are converging to get on the bus, three individuals exit that vehicle and then discharges multiple times,’ Bethel said.
One victim is reported to be in critical condition and the other’s conditions are unclear at this time. SEPTA said that there were no injuries reported to employees or passengers.
This is the latest in SEPTA bus shootings in the city in the past four days as Charles Lawson, the Chief of SEPTA Transit Police said that his department is going to take an ‘aggressive’ approach in combating the surge in gun violence, and ‘target every criminal code on the books.’
Eight students were shot after gunmen opened fire on a Philadelphia SEPTA bus stop as the teens waited for a ride home from high school
Shots rang out around 3pm Wednesday at Rising Sun and Cottman avenues in Northeast Philly
Police said they are looking for three shooters and a driver in a dark blue Hyundai Elantra with paper tags.
According to surveillance footage, the suspects were all wearing a mask during the shooting and were last seen driving over the Tookany Creek Bridge near Cheltenham Township.
The transportation company did say that a Route 18 bus and a Route 67 bus were struck by gunfire near the scene of the shooting and have advised people to avoid the area as they investigate the incident.
‘We’re going to enforce crime and we’re going to do it aggressively – and we’re not going to apologize for it,’ Lawson said.
On Tuesday night, another shooting took place onboard a Route 79 bus near South Broad Street and Snyder Avenue.
Carmelo Drayton, 37, suffered two gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at Jefferson University Hospital in Center City.
Police said that the shooter, who was wearing a black jacket, grey sweatpants and boots, fled the area. No weapons were found at the scene.
Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said that the students, between the ages of 15 and 17 were shot after three gunmen exited a vehicle near a Dunkin Donuts location and more than 30 shots were fired
One victim is reported to be in critical condition and the other’s conditions are unclear at this time. SEPTA said that there were no injuries reported to employees or passengers
On Monday, Dayemen Taylor, 17, was also killed when gunfire rang out near a bus stop near the Ognotz and Godfrey avenues intersection in upper Northern Philly.
Taylor was waiting at the stop after finishing school when at least two people approached him and one opened fire with an automatic weapon, Daily News reported.
Four others were injured in that shooting, including two women who were on a bus and two teenagers, both 15, who were grazed by bullets.
On Sunday night, a man was shot and killed after he exited a SEPTA bus near Castor Avenue in the Oxford Circle in Northeast Philadelphia.
Officials identified the man as Sawee Kofa, 27, and said that he was shot in the face around 11.25pm.
‘We use every legal means at our disposal to target illegal gun possession on SEPTA,’ Lawson said.
‘We’re going to target individuals concealing their identity. We’re going to target fare evasion. We’re going to target open drug use.’
No arrests have been made in connection to any of the shootings, police said.
