'These are our children': City leaders hold gun violence briefing
PHILADELPHIA - City leaders are now trying to get out in front of the seemingly endless stream of shootings. They shared some staggering statistics at their first gun violence biweekly briefing.
Mayor Jim Kenney, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw and other officials spoke Wednesday of efforts to get illegal firearms off the streets, increase patrols and engage with community groups to work with young people to try to head off potential violence.
Numbers show out of the 103 homicides in Philadelphia this year, 13 are children and 12 of them died from gunfire.
"We are all responsible for what goes on here. This is our community. These are our children," Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said.
Of the 412 Philadelphians shot in 2021, 40 of them are under 18.
In the city’s first gun violence Zoom briefing, there was a wave of grisly statistics charting the unrelenting violence — numbers but no new policy.
"We need some help not only from the state but from the feds to slow the flow and availability of weaponry," Mayor Jim Kenney said.
Similar to the city’s COVID-19 briefings, the gun violence briefing grew from outrage over a mass shooting at Broad and Olney, and the dismal court of young people cut down by gunfire. But teens are also shooters, according to authorities.
Police showed a photo of Ameen Hurst, just 16, wanted for an alleged murder late last year. They also showed a poster for Felix Ortiz Rios, 29, sought for an alleged shooting in 2021.
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