Eight shot, one fatally, at Philadelphia graduation party

A man was killed and at least seven other people, four of them teenagers, were injured when gunfire rang out at a graduation party in Philadelphia on Sunday night, police said.

No one was in custody, and police frustrated after an especially violent weekend said they were concerned about possible retaliation.

Four adults, all believed to be in their 20s, suffered gunshot wounds shortly after 10 p.m., Police Commissioner Richard Ross told reporters near midnight. One of them, a man, was later pronounced dead.

Four juveniles ages 15 to 17 suffered non-life-threatening gunshot wounds, primarily in their legs, Ross said.

The shooting occurred as about 60 people were at a graduation celebration at an address near two playgrounds in southwest Philadelphia, police said.

Ross said that there may have been more than one shooter, that it wasn’t known whether the shooter or shooters fled in a vehicle or on foot and that officers were on the lookout for a potential retaliatory attack.

No other information was immediately available.

The shooting came at the end of a long weekend of violence in Philadelphia, during which at least three other people were killed and 15 more were injured across the city.

Ross said police were ramping up patrols in response, but he said there was only so much the police could do.

“These are the things that absolutely drive us crazy,” Ross said, referring to the police department.

“If you only continue to ask us, we’re never going to solve this issue,” he said. “What you’ve got to get at is the hearts and minds of people who want to pull out a gun and fire at a group of 60 people.

“That’s something that’s even more troubling — that you could do that realizing the carnage that you could cause,” he said.

source: nbcnews.com