Eight teenagers were shot more than 30 times boarding a bus in Northeast Philadelphia on Wednesday afternoon, leaving one in critical condition, police said.
The victims, all 15 to 17 years old, were shot boarding a bus near a Dunkin' shop at around 3 p.m. Three people who shot at them from a parked car are still at large, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said.
"It's hard to sit here and see that in three days we have had 11 juveniles shot while going and coming from school," Bethel said at a news conference.
Bethel referred to another shooting at a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority bus stop Monday, when a 17-year-old boy was killed and four other people were wounded. In the past week, there have been four shootings involving SEPTA buses, three of them fatal.
A spokesperson for SEPTA said that two buses were struck with gunfire during Wednesday's shooting but that no passengers or employees were injured.
The 16-year-old boy in critical condition was shot nine times in the torso, police said. The remaining victims — six boys and a girl — were all stable.
Bethel said additional resources will be deployed across Philadelphia to address the series of shootings and to determine whether the incidents Wednesday and Monday are linked.
