On a beautiful Summer day that began with a rally and resource fair to meant to help heal Philadelphia from the gun violence crisis it’s experienced over the last two and half years, ended with that crisis rearing its head once again in a mass shooting that is the worst on record for the city since at least 2013.

The scene of the mass shooting was in the area of 2nd and South Streets. On most Saturday nights, especially in the Summer, crowds flock to the area to go to the many bars and late-night spots that dot the surrounding blocks. The night of Saturday, June 4, 2022 was no different. 

Crowds numbered in the hundreds around 11:30 p.m., when multiple shots rang out, sending people into a panic as the situation quickly descended into chaos. Police that were patrolling the area tried to contain the situation and even shot at one of the multiple shooters firing into one of the many crowds, but when street was cleared three people were dead and a further 11 were injured. Almost all of those injured or killed in the shooting were bystanders. Police have identified the three killed as 22-year-old Kristopher Minners, 27-year-old Alexis Quinn, and 34-year-old Gregory ‘Japan’ Jackson.

When it comes to the shooters, one is thought to be among the injured having been shot in the forearm — it is not confirmed if it came from the police officer that engaged. The other suspects have not been apprehended, but police will be obtaining security cam footage from the surrounding businesses to hopefully shed more light on what exactly went down. Police also recovered two semi-automatic firearms at the scene. 

The South Street mass shooting was the tenth shooting of just Friday and Saturday of the weekend in Philadelphia, and the latest mass shooting to capture worldwide headlines in the U.S. over the last three weeks.

Hope to bloodshed

June 4, 2022 was supposed to be a day marked by communities healing and rallying support around one another to find solutions for Philadelphia’s ongoing gun violence crisis that has claimed more than 1,200 lives since 2020.

Councilmember Kendra Brooks’ office led the effort in a march and resource fair in North Philadelphia earlier in the day. The march began at Temple University Hospital’s emergency room — an ER that sees a large portion of the city’s gun violence victims on a daily basis — and ended just north at the three-way intersection of Broad Street and Erie and Germantown Avenues. 

Brooks was also joined by a number of community organizations engaged in the daily work of gun violence prevention and other city leaders like Council President Darrell Clarke, and fellow Councilmembers Jamie Gauthier and Helen Gym. Following the short march, a resource fair was organized at the three-way intersection and lasted until 3 p.m.

In all, the fair and march could be seen as a bright spot in the ongoing fight led by communities and supported by city leaders against the scourge of gun violence in Philadelphia. 

“Healing from trauma, building trust, and putting an end to gun violence is a community-led effort. Together, we can restore peace and healing to our neighborhoods and deliver justice to our communities,” wrote Brooks in a post on Twitter at the end of the event.

But just as community and city leaders showed their persistence to continue speaking out and working for solutions to gun violence, the crisis plowed on with more gun violence, demanding more action from higher places of power.

“Now is not the time to be silent,” wrote Brooks in a later Twitter thread after news of the shooting broke.