Police seek public’s help identifying two suspects in Grays Ferry shooting that left 3 dead, 9 injured
As many as six people are suspected to have opened fire in the shooting at Grays Ferry over the Fourth of July weekend, police said.
Police are seeking the public’s help in identifying two people who they say opened fire in a shooting at a block party in Grays Ferry earlier this month that left three people dead and nine injured.
As investigators work to determine the motive for the shooting, in which more than 100 shots rang out on the 1500 block of South Etting Street, they released images of two young men who police believe were among as many as six shooters.
The images were taken from surveillance footage from a store in the area of the shooting, said Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore, who asked that anyone with information about the suspects’ whereabouts contact police.
Both are believed to be in their late teens to early 20s, police said.
One has a thin build and sideburns and is wearing a gray head covering, a black jacket, a white T-shirt, and black track pants, and is carrying an Under Armour brand backpack.
The other, also with a thin build, has dark hair, is wearing a white shirt and black track pants, and is carrying a black Nike backpack with a silver bubble pattern along the straps. At the time of the shooting, he was believed to have been wearing a black shirt, police said.
The shooting shook the tight-knit neighborhood and capped a July Fourth weekend that saw several violent crimes across the city.
After a memorial for four young men who had been killed in shootings in recent years, dozens of people gathered July 6 for a party that filled the narrow block of South Etting Street.
Residents said the party grew throughout the day, with as many as 100 mostly young people crowding the street and spilling onto residents’ porches.
Shortly before 1 a.m. July 7, gunfire erupted, and partygoers dived for cover and huddled together on porches and front steps.
Video that circulated on social media showed people sprawled on the floor and scrambling for cover on the front porch of one house as at least six people fired guns down the block toward the sound of gunfire.
The two people pictured in the images released by police were among those who shot indiscriminately down the block, Vanore said.
Officers arrived at the scene and found 12 people, including three children, with gunshot wounds, police said.
Three people died: Zahir Wylie, 23, of Overbrook, who was shot in the chest; Jason Reese, 19, of West Philadelphia, who was shot in the head; and Azir Harris, a 24-year-old who was paralyzed in a shooting seven years ago.
Harris was shot several times in the back and died shortly after at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Police ask anyone with information to call the department’s homicide unit at 215-686-3334 or to submit an anonymous tip by calling 215-686-8477.
The city is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and a conviction for each homicide, police said.