One of two suspected shooters charged in fatal shooting at a birthday party in Nicetown

One of two gunmen who police say opened fire at a birthday party in Nicetown, leaving two men dead and a mother and her 7-year-old daughter injured, was charged with murder and related crimes, authorities said.

Friends and coworkers were celebrating a birthday on the 1900 block of West Hunting Park Avenue when gunfire started just before 8:30 p.m. Saturday, said Police Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore.

An argument broke out at the party and quickly turned physical, said Vanore.

At some point during the altercation, one man, whom police did not immediately identify, pulled out a gun and opened fire, striking a 26-year-old woman in the arm and a 26-year-old man multiple times, said Vanore.

Hearing the sound of gunshots, Lonzell McDaniel, 20, came out of the house where the party was being held and started firing a gun toward a group of people, said Vanore, hitting a 29-year-old man in the head and grazing the side of the head of the 7-year-old girl.

The girl was taken to Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital and then St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, where she was in stable condition, police said. Her mother was in stable condition at Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital, police said.

The two men were taken to Temple University Hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

The 26-year-old man, later identified by police as Quran Ross-Weems, was shot while trying to break up the fight, said Vanore. The 29-year-old man, later identified as Nafiq Johnson, was shot while trying to render aid to the people who had been injured, he said.

McDaniel was charged with murder and related crimes, said Vanore. Police did not immediately release additional details on the first shooter and are still searching for him, he said.

Information on McDaniel’s detainment was not immediately available.

“It is a cowardly act to sit in a group and be firing a weapon when you have children being shot,” said Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel.

The quadruple shooting was one of at least 12 shootings over the weekend that left three dead and 12 injured, police said.

Along with the violence at the birthday party, a drive-by shooting in West Philadelphia on the 5500 block of Walton Avenue on Friday night left a 33-year-old man dead and a 49-year-old man injured, said Vanore.

Police later identified the 33-year-old man as Darren Holden, said Vanore. Police were still searching for the shooter in that case, he said.

It was also the second quadruple shooting involving a mother and her children, after gunfire erupted on Thursday during a graduation party in North Philadelphia.

After people in a car got into an argument with partygoers who were playing football in the street on the 2300 block of North Lambert Street, a gunman drove past the party and got out and started shooting toward the crowd, said Vanore.

Four people were injured, including a mother and her two children, a 12-year-old daughter, and an 11-year-old son, and a man who was struck in the arm, he said.

All four were in stable condition Monday, said Vanore.

Police were searching for the gunman and looking for video of the incident.