Last Saturday night, the West Philadelphia block party, which was initiated to honor Father's Day, turned out to be a disaster after a drive-by-shooting occurred in the location.
It was supposed to be a celebration and a friendly gathering for the family, but it didn't turn out as planned.
In a report from NBC 10 Philadelphia, two men opened fire on the block around 10 p.m., one of them is said to have been armed with a shotgun. They immediately rode in a gold sedan and fired more shots with a handgun, said the witnesses.
According to Philadelphia Police Lt. John Walker, "It looks like they just randomly fired down the street and hit anyone in their way."
Ten individuals were injured after the shooting, including 11- and 12-year-old boys and Ashley, a 1-year-old baby. The three children were taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for medication.
The rest of the victims were between 22 to 59 years old. They were three women and four men.
All victims are already in stable condition and are expected to make a full recovery.
The incident happened very fast. Valerie Jones, Ashley's mother, said they just heard shots when she got up, picked up her daughter and started running but they never escaped the attacked. Ashley was struck by shotgun pellets on her neck and chest, while Valerie was shot on her arms.
When she recognized that her baby was shot, Valerie panicked and kept on shouting, "My baby got shot, my baby got shot."
In a separate report from NBC 10 Philadelphia, it was a tough time for the Jones family. Tyrone Jones, Ashley's father helped organize the event at 4100 block of Ogden Street and it never occurred to him that such incident will happen.
Aside from Ashley and wife Valerie, another child of Tyrone was shot. His adult son was shot in the head and on the side, NBC 10 Philadelphia has learned.
One cannot take the anger Tyrone felt after the incident. "To get my family shot up like that for nothing. None of my kids are coming back here and I'm not coming back here," Tyrone said.
Despite the ordeal the Jones family has gone through, every family member is fast recovering. Baby Ashley was back to sipping on juice boxes by Sunday afternoon.
Shortly before the shooting at the block party, a 21-year-old man was shot less than a mile away from the group. The victim incurred multiple gunshot wounds in his torso and head. The man didn't make it, he was declared dead within minutes in the hospital.
The police are still not sure about the motive for the shooting and did not see any indication that it was related to the shooting in the block party.
Authorities are still searching for the suspects. One suspect is in his 20s with a beard and tattoo on one arm. He wore yellow T-shirt and blue jeans. There were no other indications for the second suspect except that he wore a black shirt and blue jeans.
Southwest Detectives encourage everyone with knowledge about the block party shooting to reach out to them; their number is 215-686-3183/84.
