We previously noted the killing of 78-year-old Steve Alexander, killed by what reporters Ellie Rushing and Jesse Bunch called a “stray bullet” as four men jumped out of an SUV and fired more than fifty rounds “toward a group of young men on the sidewalk.” The Philadelphia Inquirer has been very careful not to call it a gang hit, at least in the articles I have seen so far, but they have at least stated that the 30-year-old victim, previously referred to as being 31-years old, was the actual target.

Over 50 rounds fired, three people struck, only one killed, and he wasn’t even the target, but just collateral damage. Gang-bangers are deadly, but still notoriously bad shots.

On August 10^th, the city’s George Soros-sponsored, criminal-loving and police-hating District Attorney, Larry Krasner, said, after six homicides the previous weekend, “We had a bad weekend. We’re not having a bad year.”

Well, the bad weekends are continuing:

Two dead in weekend shootings, even as city’s homicide decline continues

A suspect has been held for questioning, but no arrests have been made, police say.

by Jillian Kramer | Monday, August 24, 2026 | 11:45 AM EDT | Updated: 2:38 PM EDT

Two men were killed in separate shootings over the weekend in Philadelphia, police said, adding to the homicide toll in the city even as it continues to see a sharp decline in deadly violence.

The newspaper keeps telling readers that yes, there have been homicides, but fewer than previous years. They have been very intent on stressing that point, and reporter Jillian Kramer’s penultimate paragraph makes the point again. I’m not quite certain what would be the acceptable number of murders.

The Philadelphia Police Department’s Current Crime Statistics page reports 118 homicides through Monday, August 24^th. The Lexington, Kentucky Homicide Investigations page reports six murders through August 21^st; Philly, a city 4.77 times larger than Lexington^[1]Philadelphia population 1,573,916; Lexington population 329,791. 1,573,916 ÷ 329,791 = 4.77. 118 ÷ 6 = 19.66., has 19.67 times as many murders; I wonder why that is.

The killings occurred within hours of each other late Saturday and early Sunday. Investigators have not publicly identified the victims or released a motive in either shooting. No arrests have been made. . . . .

The first shooting was reported shortly before midnight Saturday near Wakeling and Jackson Streets in the Frankford section of Northeast Philadelphia. Responding officers found a 64-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the face, police said. . . . .

Several hours later, shortly after 5 a.m., officers were called to the 3200 block of Kensington Avenue for a report of a person with a gun. When they arrived, police said, they found a 35-year-old man with multiple gunshot wounds to his back, chest, and right leg.

The article continued to tell us the victim had been pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital.

So, why is Philadelphia so much more deadly than Lexington? That section of Kensington Avenue has long been associated with the notorious open-air drug market that Mayor Cherelle Parker Mullins promised to shut down but hasn’t managed to accomplish. The Frankford area is a little better, but not by much. Could it be that Lexington has a Republican mayor^[2]The mayor and Urban-County Council elections are officially non-partisan, but that doesn’t mean people don’t know who they are. While Fayette County was one of the only two counties in … Continue reading and while the Urban-County Council is on the liberal side, the city isn’t stupidly “woke”?

Perhaps for Miss Kramer, things do seem better. Her Inquirer biography states that she joined the newspaper last year after having spent four years “covering New Orleans’ criminal justice system for the Times-Picayune,” and New Orleans is even worse than the City of Brotherly Love. But at some point, readers of the Inky should be told not that the city is getting better, but how bad it actually is.