Tracking gun violence in Philadelphia: May 5, 2021

Above: Last month Philadelphia saw five days with 10 or more shooting victims and six days with two or less. At least one person was shot every day and only nine days passed without any fatalities, including one three-day span. [Open Data Philly vis @PCGVR]

There’s an app for that

• Friends hope the new “Philly Truce’ mobile app will empower Philadelphians to help prevent gun violence. They have an event planned for Saturday. [WHYY/Healthy Minds Philly]

Funding prevention

• Philadelphia City Councilmembers are calling for a ‘bold investment’ to fight gun violence. Anti-violence groups in Philadelphia are asking for funds now. [WHYY/6ABC]

Community voices

• Episode four of “Philly Under Fire” explores stories and solutions from the front lines of Philly’s gun violence epidemic. NBC Philadelphia hosted a critical discussion on gun violence and solutions online. [The Philadelphia Citizen/Facebook]

Briefing and roadmap

• The city outlined returning summer programs for children, summer jobs and new criminal justice reform micro-grants during last week’s gun violence briefing. [Billy Penn/@CouncilmemberKJ]

• Criminal justice and public safety exec Erica Atwood discussed Philadelphia’s “Roadmap to Safer Communities” with Cherri Gregg on Flashpoint. [KYW Newsradio]

Latest data

• This week’s major crimes report from Philadelphia Police shows 43 people shot in Philadelphia during the seven-day period ending Sunday but also revises the previous week’s total up from 23 to 35 victims. Year-to-date shooting victims in the city are now running 39.2% ahead of last year’s pace. [Philadelphia Police on Google Drive]

• Police reported 176 total homicides in Philadelphia this year through midnight Monday, representing a 39 percent increase over last year’s pace. On the same date in 2015, police had recorded 73 homicides. [PhillyPolice.com]

• During April, 164 people were shot in Philadelphia, down slightly from 177 reported during March. Shootings victims averaged 102 during the month of April over the five years prior the pandemic, 2015-2019. [data.phila.gov]

Multiple-victim incidents

• Police investigated a triple shooting Saturday in North Philadelphia. This was the 19th incident in the city with three or more shooting victims so far this year. During the same period in 2020, there were 16 such incidents. [6ABC/Gun Violence Archive]

Long-term problems

• Philadelphia moved up three spots among US cities with the highest homicide rates over the past three decades. [John Roman on Substack]

• The Kensington Resilience Fund is a public-private partnership which will be directed by community groups to help address several issues, including public safety and gun violence. [WHYY]

Gun sales still spiking

• Background check data suggest that nearly another 100,000 guns were purchased during April in Pennsylvania, a nine percent increase over the previous month and 28 percent more than were sold during the same month last year. [The Trace]

Mass shootings

• There were eight mass shootings across the country over the weekend. Police say a ghost gun was used in a San Diego mass shooting last week. [The Trace/ CBS8]

Solution of the week

• After adding brighter streetlights: Violent crime dropped at one intersection by about 16 percent over the same three-month last year and 911 calls went down by about 44 percent. [The Dallas Morning News]

Reporting resources

• A new database shows that tens of thousands of people are admitted to U.S. hospitals for gun injuries every year. [RAND Corporation]

• You can always find our resources for reporting on gun violence on our main menu above: [PCGVR.org]