24-year-old killed in mass shooting was paralyzed from surviving 2019 drive-by shooting, family says
Father of 24-year-old killed in Philly mass shooting speaks out
Troy Harris, the father of one of the three victims killed in the second mass shooting in Philadelphia over the holiday weekend, speaks out about the violence in the city and mourns the loss of his 24-year-old son.
PHILADELPHIA - Troy Harris says he kept a close watch on his son, the youngest of six, Azir Harris, 24, who has been a wheelchair user since he was 17-years-old, following his injuries in a drive-by shooting in South Philadelphia.
He says when Azir’s friends got him out of the house last night, he didn’t question it.
What we know:
"I figured they’d either go to the store, get some juice or something like that, never thought he’d be on the other side of town when that happened to him," he said. "When he was in the wheelchair, I was carrying him up and down the steps. I carried him when he was a baby. I carried him through his first incident, and I couldn’t pick him up this time."
Harris identified his son, who he describes as outgoing and positive despite his devastating injury, as one of the three victims killed in the mass shooting on the 1500 block of South Etting Street around 1 a.m. on Monday morning.
He says Azir has a 1-year-old son, and the mother of his son was one of the nine injured in the shooting.
Philadelphia shooting: 3 dead, 9 hurt in Fourth of July weekend mass shooting
Three people are dead and 9 others are hurt following the second mass shooting in Philadelphia over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
Emotional loved ones could be seen gathered outside of Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in the early morning Monday, as police towed some vehicles from the hospital that were used to transport victims.
Police say they believe more than 100 shots erupted during an impromptu block party gathering on the street, striking homes and cars, in addition to the victims.
The shooting was captured on surveillance video, showing multiple shooters and a barrage of gunfire, which police say is part of their on-going investigation.
What they're saying:
Commissioner Kevin Bethel said on Monday afternoon that they believe one of the guns used had a switch, a conversion device that can convert handguns into fully automatic machine guns, adding that "continues to be a problem for us."
"We will have significant leads in that investigation based on the information we’re gathering now," he said. "We had a significant level of violence over the weekend, but we can see our trends are not heading in the opposite direction. We will not go back to the times when we had 500-plus homicides, that is not happening."
Tyrique Glasgow, with the Young Chances Foundation, set-up with drinks, snacks and toys on the block with other agencies, including 17th District Police, which he says they do most days in the community. He says he also runs a summer camp, but they canceled on Monday, as many children were too scared to leave their homes.
"I feel frustration. I understand what happened last night, but it’s really about understanding what we did yesterday and tomorrow," he said.
Harris made a heartbroken plea for the city to put down the guns, also calling for change.
"I just want to say put these guns down man, there’s a better way to solve it, there’s a better way to solve it."