North Philadelphia drive-by shooting leaves man, woman in separate apartments injured, police say
Neighbors watching TV in separate apartments in North Philadelphia were both wounded in a drive-by shooting on Monday night, police said.
The shooting happened just after 8:30 p.m. on the 2600 block of North Howard Street, according to police.
Philadelphia Police Department Chief Inspector Scott Small said a man and woman were struck by shots fired from a car on North Howard Street. Small said at least eight shots were fired.
Small said the 37-year-old man was shot in the back of his head after four shots were fired into his apartment. One of the bullets went through a couch. The man was taken to Temple University Hospital and placed in critical condition, according to police.
The man's neighbor, a mother of four, was in the downstairs apartment in the same building, and also watching TV on her couch. She was with her children, ages 5 to 15 years old, when one of the bullets went through her TV and struck her in the right shoulder, Small said.
None of the kids were injured in the shooting. The woman was placed in stable condition at Temple Hospital, Small said.
Small said witnesses told police the shots were fired from a dark-colored SUV that traveled north on Howard Street. He said that cameras in the area recorded the incident.
A motive for the shooting remains unclear at this time, Small said. It's also not known if the man and woman were the intended targets.
So far, no arrests have been made and no weapons were recovered, Small said. He said investigators on the scene will recover projectiles from the apartment ceiling and walls struck by gunfire in the shooting.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Philadelphia police.
Family members react to shooting
Renee Cuffee, an aunt of the woman who was shot, said this is not the first time the home was targeted, but it was the first time the woman was hit. She said her niece is 36 years old.
"You know, the kids are probably traumatized," Cuffee said.
"When they do shootings or whatever, you don't know what house they are going to hit. You don't know where the kids are sitting behind the doors. I'd rather you not do it. If you're after somebody, take it away from where people live that don't have anything to do with it," Cuffee said.
According to Philadelphia police data, violent crimes are down in the city with homicides 38% below where they were this time last year. But for this community, those statistics offer little relief as they struggle to process a frightening night.
