Philly Police Believe 5 Guns Used in Park Shooting

On Memorial Day, two people were killed and nine others wounded in a shooting at a Philadelphia park. No, we didn’t cover it, but we don’t see everything, and this didn’t rise to the level of how we typically define a mass shooting.

But others do, and it’s not exactly a nothing, either. I mean, nine people were wounded on top of the two dead. A bullet placed just a bit differently, and we’re talking a different thing entirely.

The question is, what happened?

Well, the Philadelphia police have given us a bit of a clue.

Investigators believe at least five guns were used in a deadly mass shooting that erupted in Fairmount Park on Memorial Day.

Amya Devlin, 23, and Mikhail Bowers, 21, were both killed in the shooting, and nine others, including teens, were injured by gunfire.

“This was wartime ammunition that was just opened on Philadelphians and those who were here in our city,” Mayor Cherelle Parker said.

What’s New?:

Two days after deadly gunfire erupted at a Memorial Day gathering near Lemon Hill in Farimount Park, investigators believe five guns were used in the shooting.

The gunfire erupted suddenly and in under the veil of darkness, which forced authorities to rely heavily on DNA evidence to carry their investigation.

The backstory:

Officers from the Philadelphia Police Department were called to the 800 block of Lemon Hill Drive around 10:30 p.m. for reports of a shooting.

Police reported that two people were killed and nine others were injured when nearly two dozen shots erupted at a Memorial Day gathering.

Amya Devlin, 23, and Mikhail Bowers, 21, were identified as the two people that were killed in the shooting. 

Six of the nine shooting victims were teenagers, according to police, including a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl. 

All of those injured are in stable condition.

The use of five guns doesn’t fit what we typically think of as a mass shooter.

Typically, someone just looking to maximize casualties has one or two guns, maybe three.

Five different guns suggests, at least to me, that this was some kind of gang warfare type of thing. One group sees a rival group, pulls their guns, and starts shooting, while the other group pulls theirs and starts shooting back. Since neither of these groups actually practices with guns and has absolutely no sense of marksmanship, bullets start going everywhere and hitting innocent people.

Sure, some of the people engaged in the gunfight might have gotten shot, but it’s entirely possible they all were able to run away.

I think that, once arrests are made, we’re going to see that none of these people could lawfully purchase a firearm. I suspect the guns used are stolen guns, though some might be straw purchases.

In other words, nothing that gun control would fix.

My thoughts and prayers are with the injured and the families of those slain. I hope those who pulled the trigger are found and brought to justice. We, as a society, cannot tolerate this sort of thing. People need to be prosecuted and removed from that society for a time, hopefully long enough that those folks decide that path isn’t one they want to walk again.