Philadelphia shooting: 17-year-old boy shot dead at Kingsessing recreation center

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) – A 17-year-old boy was killed in a shooting at a recreation center in the Kingsessing neighborhood of Philadelphia, police said.

The shooting took place just before 8 p.m. Friday at the Francis Myers Recreation Center at 58th Street and Kingsessing Avenue.

Investigators could be seen looking over the basketball court for evidence.

Police said the 17-year-old boy was shot in the chest.

The teenager, whose identity remains unknown, was taken by police to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead shortly after.

No weapons were found at the scene, officials said.

No arrests were made.

Not far from this scene, on 55th and Christian streets, patrols were stepped up around another recreation center, the Christy Recreation Center, after 16-year-old Kahree Simmons was shot and killed on Thursday on the grounds of basketball.

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Police said in this case, four men got out of a small SUV and started shooting, hitting Simmons and two other teenagers who were playing.

Action News spoke with his family earlier on Friday.

“Kahree was loved. He didn’t deserve this, he didn’t do anything. He just left the house and went to play basketball with his friends. That was it,” said Kahree’s brother Stephen Simmons.

They are asking for help with an arrest.

“I implore anyone who hears me right now thinking about it if it was your child. We were like you, see it on the news and never thought it would be our situation, but today it is. ‘our situation is,’ said Stephen Simmons. .

Also Thursday, a security video captured the sounds and part of a quadruple shoot in the 1400 block of N. 76th Street in Overbrook Park.

Another 16-year-old was killed, along with a 24-year-old man.

At a press conference at the rec-enter the 55th and Christian, Mayor Jim Kenney said the city would begin weekly updates on the gun violence outbreak.

“The briefings will be open to members of the media and posted publicly on the City of Philadelphia Facebook page,” Kenney said.

As police investigated Kingsessing’s homicide, a fire broke out in an apartment across the street.

The fire started just before 9 p.m. as smoke was seen from a two-story duplex.

The crews brought the fire under control in less than 15 minutes.

There were no injuries in the fire.