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6 People Shot, 1 Fatally, At Graduation Party In Philadelphia

Updated at 3:50 p.m. ET

A man was killed and five people were injured in a shooting at a graduation party late Sunday evening in Philadelphia, police say. All of the victims are younger than 25, and four of them are teenagers.

The shooter fired "indiscriminately into the crowd" at Paschall Playground in Southwest Philadelphia just after 10 p.m. ET, the police department said in a statement emailed to NPR on Monday morning. The gunman is still at large, and no weapon has been recovered.

It's not clear what the motive was for the shooting, or the relationship between the shooter and the party guests.

"It appears as if three males were seen near that parking lot area, around the time of the shooting," Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross Jr. told CBS Philly. "One of whom started shooting into the crowd, indiscriminately and subsequently struck obviously six people, one of whom died."

Police have identified the man who was killed as Isiaka Meite. The 24-year-old man lived on a neighboring street. He was pronounced dead at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center less than 45 minutes after the shooting was reported. Authorities say he was shot in the back.

The five people injured — a 24-year-old man, a 16-year-old girl, two 16-year-old boys and a 15-year old boy — were all in stable condition, according to the police.

Earlier reports had indicated that eight people were hit by gunfire, which police later clarified, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

"It's just another case of wanton and senseless violence that we can't get our brains around," Ross told CBS.

The shooting was part of a deadly weekend in Philadelphia. According to the Inquirer, at least 19 shootings took place, striking 28 people — five of them fatally.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Merrit Kennedy is a reporter for NPR's News Desk. She covers a broad range of issues, from the latest developments out of the Middle East to science research news.
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