Homicides are down in the City of Brotherly Love, as we have previously reported. On May 25^th, we noted that it was possible that Philadelphia could see as few as 450 murders in 2023. Under recently resigned Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, the city saw 499 homicides in 2020 — though there’s reason to suspect that 502 is the correct figure — 562 in 2021, and 516 in 2022.

With 330 officially listed homicides as of October 1^st, the 274^th day of the year, Philly has seen 1.204 homicides per day, which works out to a projected 439.60 killings for the year.

That decrease in homicides is good news, at least if over 400 murders can be regarded as anything other than bad news, but the killings are still happening. From The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Police shoot man suspected of killing 3 people in Philly quadruple shooting

The shooter is believed to be a relative of one of the victims, according to police, who said he fled the scene in a blue Honda Pilot.

by Beatrice Forman | Monday, October 2, 2023 | 7:55 AM EDT | Updated: 9:31 AM EDT

Philadelphia police shot a man they suspected of killing three people during a quadruple shooting inside a Crescentville home early Monday morning.

Chief Inspector Michael McCarrick said police were responding to a 911 call at a home on the 6100 block of Shelbourne Street just before 5 a.m., and they found a woman was shot in the face. Inside the home, three other victims were found dead.

Police have not yet released the names or ages of the victims. The woman is currently in unknown condition at Albert Einstein Medical Center.

McCarrick said a 42-year-old man believed to be related to the woman who was shot in the face fled the home in a blue Honda Pilot with a Pennsylvania license plate..

Interim Police Commissioner John Stanford told reporters at a news conference that police located the Honda Pilot just after 7 a.m. on Phil Ellena Street in Mount Airy. Inside was a driver and the person of interest, who Stanford said fired at officers from inside the vehicle.

The Philadelphia Police officers returned fire, critically wounding the ‘person of interest’. The driver of the vehicle is being questioned, though Commissioner Stanford stated that it was not yet known if the driver had any connection to the shootings. While Mr Stanford stated that there was some kind of familial relationship involved, he was not going to release the nature of that relationship or the names of the victims and ‘person of interest’ as of yet.

If the shootings in the Crescentville home occurred ‘early Monday morning,’ then they are not included in the 330 total homicide numbers as of 11:59 PM EDT on Sunday.
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Update: the ‘person of interest’ has died.