No connection was immediately known between the victims and the shooter, he said. He had a bulletproof vest, an « AR-type rifle, » multiple magazines, a pistol, and a police scanner.
The officers were stopped at about 8:30 pm and more calls of gunfire came from Kingsessing. Police found some gunshot victims, and as they were tending to them, they heard more gunfire, Outlaw said. The police later said fox 29 that a fifth victim has been found. He was chased into his home and shot and killed. Bullet casings were found outside the house.
The alleged shooter was identified as a 40-year-old man. A second person who may have returned fire at the suspect was also taken into custody, but police did not know if there was a connection between the two people, Outlaw said.
The chief said dozens of shell casings were found in an eight-block area.
“You can see there are different scenes here,” Outlaw said. « We’re scouring the area to get as much as we can, to identify witnesses, to identify where the cameras are, and to do everything we can to figure out why, » Outlaw said.
Three of the dead were between 20 and 59 years old, while the fourth, not yet identified, was estimated to be between 16 and 21 years old. The victim found in his home was 31 years old. All were male.
The two hospitalized victims are boys, aged between 2 and 13 years. They were in stable condition, Outlaw said.
The shooting occurred the day after gunfire broke out over a bank holiday weekend block party in Baltimoreabout 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the southwest, killing two people and wounding 28 others. Those injured in that shooting ranged in age from 13 to 32, with more than half being minors, according to officials.
Philadelphia’s violence is the country’s 29th mass killing in 2023, according to a database run by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University, the highest on record this time of year.
The number of people killed in such events is also the highest at this time of year.
There have been more than 550 mass killings since 2006, according to the database, in which at least 2,900 people have died and at least 2,000 people have been injured.
