6 dead, many injured after shootings in Philadelphia and Chattanooga

Shootings overnight left six people dead in Philadelphia and Chattanooga, Tennessee, continuing a spate of deadly gun attacks as Congress prepares to take up gun-control legislation.

Shortly before midnight Saturday, police officers on patrol in a popular nightlife area in Philadelphia heard gunfire and saw “several active shooters” firing into a crowd, Inspector D.F. Pace of the Philadelphia Police Department said at a news conference early Sunday.

Three fatalities have been confirmed, two related to gunshot wounds and one related to injuries sustained after a person was struck by a vehicle. Several victims remain in critical condition after what police described as a chaotic and harrowing situation, as hundreds of people were out on a pleasant summer evening.

An officer fired several shots at one of the gunmen as he was shooting, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said during a news conference Sunday afternoon. The man dropped his weapon and fled when he was fired upon, the commissioner added.

About three hours later, at 2:42 a.m. Sunday, police in Chattanooga responded to reports of shots fired near a nightclub. They found 14 gunshot victims and three people who had been hit by vehicles that “were attempting to flee the scene,” Chattanooga Police Chief Celeste Murphy said in a briefing Sunday.

Murphy said three people were killed, two by gunshots and one after being struck by a vehicle. She said the investigation was ongoing. “Multiple shooters” were involved, she said, but police did not have anyone in custody.

In Philadelphia, police were on the hunt for the shooters, Pace said.

The incident began at 11:31 p.m. after two officers heard gunfire, Outlaw said. When they arrived at the scene, they saw several people with gunshot wounds and began administering first aid.

Police believe there was some sort of physical altercation between two men who started shooting at each other. Both were hit and one was killed, Outlaw said. In all, five different guns were fired, police said, not including the one discharged by the police officer on the scene.

Outlaw said the two other people who were killed and several of the wounded were “uninvolved in the initial altercation and were innocent bystanders.”

Of the 14 people who were injured and brought to hospitals, three – two men, ages 22 and 34, and a woman, 27 – were pronounced dead on arrival, police told reporters. The 11 wounded ranged in age from 17 to 69, Outlaw said, and their conditions ranged from stable to critical.

“We’re absolutely devastated, devastated by this incident,” she said.

About 35 to 40 minutes before the shooting on South Street, police responded to another report of shots fired nearby. No one was injured in that shooting, and police said it was unclear if the two shootings were related.

Officials at Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University Hospital told The Washington Post that it received 10 patients. Three died, six were in a “stable condition” and one had been discharged as of Sunday morning.

Police will look at video surveillance footage from the bustling area, Pace said.

“There were hundreds of individuals just enjoying South Street, as they do every single weekend, when this shooting broke out,” he added. “This investigation is fluid.”

Of the five weapons used in the shooting, two, both semiautomatic handguns, were recovered, police said. One of them had an extended magazine. “Multiple casings” of ammunition were strewn about the South Street area, Pace added.

The local 6ABC news outlet showed video of glass debris on the street and police tape cordoning off a busy shopping area.

The shootings come amid fresh outrage across the country from police chiefs and elected officials over gun violence. President Joe Biden has renewed a push for Congress to act on gun restrictions.

The Philadelphia shooting follows another one nearby early on Tuesday, according to a report from WPHL-TV. Surveillance video showed a woman firing multiple shots at the intersection of 4th and South streets. One man was shot in the shoulder. He was treated at a hospital, police told the station. It was not clear whether the shootings are related.

In a statement Sunday morning, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, a Democrat, called the latest shooting “beyond devastating” and “yet another horrendous, brazen and despicable act of gun violence” that “has shaken many people in our community.”

He also decried the rise in gun violence.

“We’ve spent these years grappling with this rising epidemic and doing everything in our power not only to stop it but to try to understand why the violence continues – it’s senseless, needless and deeply troubling,” Kenney said.

Chattanooga’s nonpartisan mayor, Tim Kelly, also called for stronger gun laws during a news conference Sunday afternoon. “There are families whose lives have been shattered forever because once again, we have people deciding to resolve their issues with firearms,” he said. “I’m tired of standing in front of you talking about guns and bodies. Chattanooga will not tolerate this in our community.”

The shootings come as Congress is expected to take up gun-control legislation this week. Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat representing Connecticut said he was “more confident than ever” that Congress would act. “But I’m also more anxious about failure this time around.”

He called the legislation “frankly a test of democracy. It’s a test of the federal government as to whether we can deliver at a moment of just fierce anxiety amongst the American public. So we’re closer than ever before. Let’s see if we land it.”

Quinton Lucas, the nonpartisan mayor of Kansas City, said his city has filed lawsuits against gun manufacturers and “fortified” many of its schools, but that action from Congress was needed.

“More than anything, we need stronger and tougher laws that protect our children, protect our grocery stores, protect our police officers,” Lucas said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“Red-flag laws permitting background checks are very clear solutions,” he added. “And I think the United States Congress has an opportunity to act and make us all safer so we’re not reading about a new mass shooting every few days, which has been the story of the past month in the United States.”