Hundreds of parents and children fled and three people were shot—one by a police officer—when gunfire erupted Wednesday afternoon at an event celebrating the end of Ramadan outside a mosque in Philadelphia. The city's police commissioner said that two factions in the park where the Eid al-Fitr event was taking place exchanged gunfire, WPVI reports, and that about 30 shots were fired. Police said they took five people into custody, per the AP.
A man was shot in the stomach, and a juvenile victim suffered a wound to the hand. During the gunfire, an officer shot a 15-year-old boy in the leg and shoulder. The commissioner, Kevin Bethel, said he was shot after refusing to drop a gun, per KTXF. The officer put the teenager in her patrol vehicle and drove him to the hospital. In addition, a police car going to the site struck a young child fleeing the park who received a leg injury.
About 1,000 people attended the event in the Parkside neighborhood. Some later described running away from the gunfire, hiding behind trees and dropping to the pavement as they tried to protect children. Others ran into a nearby school and mosque, looking for loved ones. The general manager of Girard Meat Market said more than a dozen children ran into the store in search of shelter. "Everybody was running," Abdallah Legh said. Hours later, many returned to the park to find shoes or cellphones left behind. "Ninety-nine percent of the people attending this event were good people who wanted to have a good time," Bethel said. (More shooting stories.)
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