3 hospitalized after shooting outside Temple emergency room
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Police are searching for gunmen who fired more than 40 shots outside Temple University Hospital. Three men were hurt in the shooting early Thursday morning.
Police say they were able to walk into the emergency room after they were struck by the gunfire.
Security video shows a dark-colored car coming to a stop on Germantown Avenue when three people start shooting outside the Temple University Emergency Room just after midnight Thursday.
"It's very sad," Salvatore Hall said.
A group of people were standing outside the ER before the gunfire erupts and they run for their lives. Sources say the shooting was in retaliation to another incident from Wednesday.
We showed the video to Hall who's been working as a barber across the street for nearly a decade.
"I'm glad I wasn't here," he said. "I mean, it's just ridiculous that it's a hospital. A shooting at a hospital."
We were there Thursday as crews worked to replace a window that has a bullet hole in it. Police say three men ranging in age from 18 to 25 were shot and all are in stable condition.
Officers found an 18-year-old who had been shot in the hand, a 22-year-old shot in the knee, and a 25-year-old shot in the face, back and arm.
"It's a very unusual location for three individuals to be shot," Philadelphia Chief Inspector Scott Small said. "We're just a few feet from the doors and the driveway leading to Temple's emergency room.
So far, there have been more than 230 gunshot victims in North Philadelphia this year alone, according to police data. That's a drop from last year.
But it's still way too many victims to Hall and others who live and work in this neighborhood and don't feel safe.
"They need to definitely change something," Hall said. "I don't know what it is. End the violence, end the violence."
That's why he's helping children through a program called Barbers Against Violence that he runs with other neighborhood barbers.
"Right now we actually mentor children," Hall said. "So we're trying to get them off the streets from what they're doing right now."
He says his goal is to deter children and young adults from getting killed on the streets. He also says he's fed up with giving shooting victims what he calls their last haircuts just before they're buried.
Investigators believe three people were firing from inside the car but one of them may have exited the vehicle to fire shots.