Two teenagers shot, one fatally, in afternoon Philly shootings

Two male teenagers were shot, one fatally, about 16 minutes and two miles apart in Philadelphia on Monday afternoon.

A 16-year-old was shot multiple times at 1:39 p.m. on the 3100 block of North 25th Street in North Philadelphia, police said. Medics pronounced him dead at 1:51 p.m.

Four minutes later, a 19-year-old was shot once in the upper right arm on the 2100 block of Cecil B. Moore Avenue, also in North Philadelphia, police said. He was taken to Temple University Hospital, where he was in critical condition.

People under age 18 have increasingly become the victims of shootings in Philadelphia. One out of every 12 shooting victims last year was under 18, according to an Inquirer analysis. In 2015, that number was one out of every 16.

So far this year, there have been at least 115 shooting victims under 18.

Two months ago, attention on the rising number of child gunfire victims grew when two young children were shot less than 24 hours apart. Two-year-old Nikolette Rivera was killed on Oct. 20 when bullets flew into her Kensington home. In Hunting Park the day before, 11-month-old Yazeem Jenkins was shot four times while in a car.

Then, last month, 10-year-old Sameje O’Branty was shot in the back of his head while walking home from school. His shooting was the sixth in a 23-day span.

» READ MORE: Philly cops are used to tragedy. But 6 kids shot in a month can crack their ‘emotional shell.’

“Kids rarely get shot like this,” Capt. John Walker of the 15th District, where O’Branty was shot, previously told The Inquirer. “In 30 years of my career, I haven’t seen it like this before.”

No weapons were recovered and no arrests were announced for Monday’s shootings.

No additional information about the victims or incidents was immediately available.

Staff writer Jonathan Lai contributed to this article.