Northeast Philadelphia community begins healing process after teens shot at bus stop
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A Northeast Philadelphia community is starting the healing process after tragedy broke out Wednesday as high school students were heading home from school.
Those who live and work in the area around the Five Points intersection in Philadelphia's Burholme neighborhood where 8 teens were shot Wednesday say it was a day they'll never forget.
"I was sitting in the back and I just hear something like shooting — 7 to 9 times," said Basil Awad, who works in a nearby pharmacy.
The shooting happened at Rising Sun and Cottman avenues around 3 p.m.
"There were like 50-60 students. They were just like running, running, running," Awad said.
The feeling of tragedy was palpable Thursday, Dan Nagy said.
"It seems somber, I guess you can say … The sense of tragedy is kind of in the air," Nagy said.
Nagy and his neighbor, Peter Cooper, said that together they got several of the teens fleeing the shooting into Nagy's nearby apartment building.
"A bunch of kids screaming and crying and yelling and running and falling," Cooper said.
Then Nagy ran to the scene, helping the high schoolers who were on the ground, injured by gunfire.
"I pulled my belt off and put it around [one victim's] leg and just told him to hold on to it," Nagy said.
Twenty-four hours later, the two are still trying to process what they saw.
"To see the kids running and screaming and bleeding, it was like a little mini war zone, but children," Cooper said. "And children that couldn't protect themselves."
A father himself, Cooper said it's a call he hopes he never gets and he prays for the families who got one Wednesday night.
"In the back of your mind, you're worried about your child's life. Not if your child has eaten or anything of that nature — if your child is still alive or not," he said.
The shooting was the second in a week involving teens near a SEPTA bus stop.
Northeast High School, where some of the victims were students, will remain virtual through the end of the week. The School District of Philadelphia said it is providing mental health resources to students and staff.