Philadelphia’s mayor condemned Sunday a mass shooting that police say left nine people wounded hours earlier.
Multiple gunmen fired at least 40 shots into a crowd in the city’s Kensington neighborhood shortly before 11 p.m. on Saturday, police said, leaving four men in critical condition.
The other five victims — four men and a woman — were in stable condition following the incident, which Mayor Jim Kenney slammed as “heinous.”
“I’m appalled and devastated by this despicable, brazen act of gun violence,” Kenney tweeted Sunday. “My heart is with the family and loved ones of those injured, and with everyone impacted by this tragedy.”
Police have not released a motive for the shooting or announced any arrests. Officials say the gunmen arrived in a vehicle.
“At this point in time, it just looks like these individuals may have spotted someone they wanted to shoot at, exited the vehicle and began firing at the group of individuals that were there,” said Deputy Police Commissioner John Stanford. “We don’t have much more than that in terms of motive.”
The victims in critical condition are between 23 and 27 years old, while the other five victims range in age from 23 to 40. None have been publicly named.
The shooting occurred outside a bar, according to NBC Philadelphia.
“Our men and women are where they’re supposed to be in the sense of being out here patrolling, but we have some brazen individuals in this city that don’t care,” Stanford said, according to the TV outlet. “They don’t care how many police officers are out here, and some of them don’t care in terms of how many people are out here.”
Pennsylvania state Rep. Amen Brown was critical of Mayor Kenney, saying he should be blamed for the city’s violence along with its City Council and district attorney’s office.
“Innocent women and children are dying every single day, and it’s got to stop,” the Democrat told NBC Philadelphia.
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