A teenager was killed and two others were injured in a street shooting that also left two passengers on a SEPTA bus wounded by stray gunfire Monday afternoon in the city’s Ogontz section, police said.
The shooting occurred around 3:45 p.m. at a bus stop at the intersection of Godfrey and Ogontz Avenues, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said.
About 20 people were at the stop boarding a Route 6 bus when two people approached a 17-year-old boy from behind and began shooting, Bethel said. Police took the teen to Jefferson Einstein Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Two other boys — described later by police as both 15 years old — were being treated at Einstein for graze wounds.
As the shooting started, the bus pulled away and stopped at 16th Street and Limekiln Pike, Bethel said.
Two women on the bus — described later by police as ages 71 and 49 — were struck by stray gunfire, Bethel said. Both women were reported to be in stable condition at Einstein.
Police said they found around 40 spent shell casings at Godfrey and Ogontz.
The two shooting suspects were still at large.
City Councilmember Cindy Bass, whose district includes the shooting scene, said in a statement that she was “heartbroken and outraged.”
“Once again, we see a life senselessly lost and others injured in yet another brazen and disgraceful act of gun violence. I am constantly thinking about the incredible loss these senseless deaths leave behind,” Bass said. “We need to develop proactive steps to ensure these incidents no longer occur.”
SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch said in a statement: “All SEPTA customers should be able to feel safe while they are traveling. We provide 700,000 passenger trips a day, and incidents like this are extremely rare. But even one is unacceptable, and SEPTA Police will continue working closely with Philadelphia Police and other law enforcement partners on measures to enhance safety and security on our transit system.”
It was the second shooting in as many days involving a SEPTA bus.
Late Sunday night, a 27-year-old man was shot and killed after an argument broke out on a SEPTA bus in Oxford Circle late Sunday night.
The shooting happened after the victim, Sawee Kofa of Lawndale, got off the bus at Castor Avenue and Van Kirk Street.
No arrests were reported in that case.
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