Philadephia shooting: Video shows 1-year-old shot in convenience store as crime skyrockets
Philadephia shooting: Video shows 1-year-old shot in convenience store as crime skyrockets
LINK: Video footage caught the moment a 1-year-old girl was shot in a Philadelphia convenience store as shootings escalate in the city.
"The day when that happened, that night I couldn't even sleep because my mind was still hearing that voice," store owner Majid Choudary told 6 ABC, which also obtained the footage of the shooting, recounting when the young girl was shot in the leg.
The shooting unfolded Saturday in a West Philadelphia convenience store, with surveillance footage showing gunfire coming from both inside and outside of the store.
"An approximately 1-year-old child was shot one time," District Attorney Larry Krasner said of the shooting. "I think we're all impacted by the injustice of children suffering wounds."
The girl is expected to survive the injury, and bullet holes are still visible at the store. Choudary said the shooting left her fearful for her safety in the city.
PHILADELPHIA RECORDS MORE THAN 300 HOMICIDES SO FAR THIS YEAR, BREAKING DECADE RECORD
The crime comes as homicides in the City of Brotherly Love soar this year, with 304 murders logged and more than 1,200 people shot.
At least three dozen people were shot in Philadelphia over the weekend, including three fatally.
Earlier this month, Philadelphia broke a decade-long record for passing the grim 300-homicide milestone this early in a year.
PHILADELPHIA VIOLENCE: 12 PEOPLE SHOT, 1 STABBED DURING GRUESOME 2-HOUR PERIOD, POLICE SAY
Additionally, more than 120 children have been shot in the city since the start of the year, 6 ABC’s Action News Data Journalism Team reported, with 21 of them dying.
"One life lost prematurely to violence is one too many, and I am devastated by the unrelenting rise in gun violence that has tragically claimed the lives of over 300 fellow Philadelphians so far this year and injured many more, including innocent children. While this is an appalling national trend because of the lack of commonsense federal gun laws, the local violence we’re experiencing is tearing families and communities apart here at home, and inflicting trauma on Philadelphians of all ages," Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement of the Saturday shooting to Fox News.
"While residents may understandably feel hopeless and scared, I do believe we have reasons to be hopeful for a return to better, safer times, especially as the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic are improving," he added, saying community intervention programs are back in "full force" and noting the city is increasing the seizures of illegal guns.
Shootings and other violent crimes have also escalated in other cities across the nation, including in Chicago, where the number of shooting victims increased 70% in March alone when compared to March 2020.
