Newly formed anti-violence group announced in Philadelphia to combat violence

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) Surveillance cameras capture a brazen shooting in the middle of the day in West Philly. It shows a gunman open fire on a young man standing on the 5100 block of Market Street in front of a Chinese food store last week. Police say the 21-year-old man was shot in his upper body and taken to the hospital in critical condition. Now investigators are looking for the suspect captured on the video.

It's one of many shootings around the area of 52nd Street. Now a new anti-violence group is taking action.

"A young man was killed outside this bar," said Bilal Qayyum. He heads the group seen in this video at a news conference today outside Cousin Danny's Bar. Organizers say it was shut down because of all the violence that happened nearby.

"It was reported 8 individuals have been killed since 2009 within two blocks of this bar," said Qayyum. He's the President of the Philadelphia Anti-Violence Coalition. Taleah Taylor is the Vice President. We spoke with her tonight at a community meeting about all the violence.

"It's separating and killing our families. It's separating all of us little brothers and little sisters. The retaliation is back and forth just like the little 14- year-old boy that got shot," said Taylor. The coalition is made up of more than 48 similar groups around the city. They're combining resources to combat violence and educate communities plagued with it.

"It's just back and forth. Everyone is losing somebody and people don't step up and care until someone in your family or a close friend of yours dies. It's time to step up now and take back our neighborhoods," said Taylor.