10-year-old boy shot in back of head, critically injured in Philadelphia; gunman at-large
The gunman is not known and no weapon was recovered, police said.
A 10-year-old boy was shot in the back of the head and critically injured in broad daylight a Philadelphia street, and now authorities say they're searching for the unknown gunman.
The shooting happened Wednesday just after 3 p.m. in the city's Frankford section, according to the Philadelphia Police Department, and no arrests have been made.
The little boy, identified by family as Semaj O'Branty, was walking home from school at the time, according to ABC Philadelphia station WPVI. The shooting was captured on surveillance video.
The unknown gunman fired multiple shots from a red Pontiac G6, police said Thursday. The suspect or suspects then fled in the car, said police.
The boy, who was rushed to a children's hospital, was still in critical condition on Thursday, police said.
"This is unacceptable," Deputy Police Commissioner Joe Sullivan said, according to WPVI. "We have to join police and community, come together and work together to get people like this off the street."
This shooting comes just weeks after a 2-year-old girl, Nikolette Rivera, was in the shot dead in her North Philadelphia home on a Sunday afternoon.
Nikolette was in her mother's arms when bullets from an automatic rifle came through the wall and hit her in the head.
One day before Nikolette was killed, an 11-month-old boy, Yazeem Jenkins, was shot four times and critically injured while in the back of a car in Philadelphia's Hunting Park neighborhood.
"Yazeem is fighting for his life at Children’s Hospital," William McSwain, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, said Monday.
After those two shootings, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said weapons are "flowing" into the city "like a river."
"Outraged, disgusted, and heartbroken by the violence this weekend that claimed the life of an innocent 2-year-old and left another infant fighting for his life," Kenney tweeted. "Philadelphians should not live in fear of violence that could take away a child’s life."
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