Teenage boy shot, killed in Philadelphia football crowd

PHILADELPHIA — A 14-year-old boy was killed and four other students injured in a shooting near a high school playing field in northwest Philadelphia after a football scrum, authorities said.

Police said the players were walking off the field behind Roxborough High School after a three-school scuffle when at least two people opened fire just after 4:30pm on Tuesday, before fleeing on foot.

Police said a 14-year-old boy was pronounced dead from a shot in the chest just after 5 p.m. Wednesday at Einstein Medical Center. A 17-year-old gunshot in the arm and leg and a 14-year-old gunshot in the thigh were listed in stable condition. No information was initially available about a fourth student who was taken to a hospital; Another student who was grazed by a bullet was treated at the scene.

Deputy Police Commissioner John Stanford told reporters that players were walking away from a scrum involving Roxborough High School, Northeast High School and Boys Latin Charter School when the shooting began.

He said the boys were attacked when they “did one of the things that we encourage our children to do” and the son of a family “won’t make it home today”.

No arrests were immediately reported. Stanford said police were pulling images from multiple surveillance cameras in the area. He said investigators would also be looking at social media and gathering information to see if the shooting could have stemmed from something that happened earlier in the day.

School officials said they would have a trauma support team to help students and staff.

“Schools used to be a safe place … and to see that now our young people can’t even come to a game of scrimmage and get shot — that’s totally unacceptable,” said Kevin Bethel, director of school safety for the Philadelphia School District.

“That was a cowardly act today – to come out and mug people coming off the ball field. Does that make you hard? I don’t think so,” he said.

District Attorney Larry Krasner said he was “absolutely disgusted.”

“I’m shocked — honestly, I’m a bit shaken,” Krasner said. “This is appalling what is happening out here Headmistress and imagine what she is going through. … Schools should be the answer. We keep kids in schools so they don’t get caught up in the shooting.

The shooting came hours after Mayor Jim Kenney signed an executive order banning guns and lethal weapons from the city’s indoor and outdoor recreational areas, including parks, basketball courts and swimming pools. The order is the latest attempt by city officials to regulate guns within city limits, complicated by Pennsylvania’s Preemption Act, which prevents municipalities from enacting or enforcing their own stricter gun regulations.