2 Dead, 4 Hurt After Gunfire Breaks Out at Suspected Underground Speakeasy in Philadelphia Home

Citing "record-breaking levels of violent criminal activity," Mayor Cherelle Parker declared Philadelphia to be in a public safety emergency on Jan. 2

Two men are dead and four other people are injured after a mass shooting broke out shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday at a residence police believe “to have been operating as a speakeasy,” the Philadelphia Police Department announced in a press release.

One or more shooters fired into the residence-turned-speakeasy through the front door and window, fatally striking a 53-year-old man in the face and a 41-year-old man multiple times in the chest, according to police, who have not released the names of any of the victims.

Four other people were hospitalized for their shooting-involved injuries: a 42-year-old man who was shot in the hand and a 28-year-old man shot three times in the leg and hip, as well as two women – a 23-year-old and a 33-year-old – who were both struck in their arms. All four had been hospitalized and were all in stable condition as of Monday morning, per police.

Police and emergency personnel, who responded to the 911 call that reported a “person with a gun,” at 12:50 a.m. Sunday, declared the 53-year-old man dead at the scene. The 41-year-old man was rushed to Temple Hospital and pronounced dead shortly thereafter at 1:13 a.m., per police.

The six-person mass shooting is at least the 12th to occur across the United States in the first two weeks of the New Year, killing 15 people and injuring 48 more, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which measures a mass shooting as a shooting in which four or more people are struck by gunfire, either fatally or non-fatally. The online archive tallied at least 21 mass shootings in Philadelphia last year.

Citing gun violence, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker declared Philadelphia to be in a public safety emergency Jan. 2.

Referencing “record-breaking levels of violent criminal activity,” in her first executive order as mayor, Parker noted “more than 3,000 shooting incidents” last year, which she said amounted to “aberrant and unacceptable levels of violent crime in Philadelphia.”

Demanding a plan for change within the 100-day expiration date of her order – which she said was designed “to prioritize public safety in 2024 and beyond” – Parker declared that the police commissioner could “employ any lawful means necessary to abate the public safety emergency” urged the department to “vigorously enforce the existing laws” and promised to find strategies “maximizing the deployment of the current police force and increasing the number of police officers trained and equipped to engage in community policing across Philadelphia.”

Parker listed the diminishment of “gun-related crimes” as her top goal to improve public safety in her city.

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No arrests have been made as of Monday morning in connection with Sunday's shooting, and police declined to answer questions regarding possible motive at the Myrtlewood Street residence in Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion neighborhood. 

“Strawberry Mansion used to be the best,” one resident told ABC6, after the shooting. “Now you say Strawberry Mansion, it's like hell.”

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