Posted on December 4, 2020

Philadelphia Reaches 3rd Highest Annual Homicide Number in 60 Years

NBC 10, November 25, 2020

Philadelphia reached a grim milestone on Wednesday as five deadly shootings over the course of a few hours marked the city’s third highest annual number of homicides in 60 years.

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In the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood, two men, aged 44 and 45, were shot on the 3100 block of Arizona street a little after 9 p.m., police said. {snip}

Just a few hours later, shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday, a 21-year-old man was shot in the head and died at the scene near the intersection of S. 53rd Street and Willows Avenue in the Kingsessing neighborhood. {snip}

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Wednesday night, around 6:45 p.m., a man in his mid-30’s was shot several times on the 2800 block of North 26th Street. {snip}

The fatal shootings took the city’s homicide number to at least 446 this calendar year, according to statistics by the Philadelphia Police Department. That represents a 37% jump in homicides since the same time last year.

It’s also the city’s third largest homicide number since 1960, surpassing 444 homicides in 1974, according to the annual Uniform Crime Report, which is data Philadelphia police share with the FBI each year. Only 1989 and 1990 had higher numbers within that 60-year span with 476 and 500 respectively.