We have often said that The Philadelphia Inquirer does not care about murder victims unless they are an innocent, a ‘somebody,’ or a cute white girl. One second she was happy and alive, and the next she had a bullet in her brain.

Bystander killed in shooting at Northeast Philadelphia bar

The woman was later identified by a relative as Jailene Holton

by Rodrigo Torrejón | Wednesda, June 29, 2022 | 10:12 AM EDT

Jailene Holton, via Steve Keeley, Fox29 News. Click to enlarge.

A bystander was killed after a disgruntled customer sprayed bullets into a Northeast Philadelphia bar late Tuesday night, police said.

Around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, three men were kicked out of the Philly Bar and Restaurant, on Welsh Road, after causing a disturbance at the bar. While two of the men left without issues, one had to be forced out.

That man, after being thrown out, walked to a pickup truck about 200 feet away and then shot at least 15 times into the front of the bar. Five of the bullets went through the window and one struck a 21-year-old woman in the head.

The woman was later identified by a relative as Jailene Holton. Investigators and family said that she was just a patron who was there at the bar with friends, serving as the designated driver. When police arrived, they found Holton on the floor in the back of the bar and rushed her to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital.

She was pronounced dead shortly after.

“She was not part of the disturbance,” said Chief Inspector Scott Small told reporters on the scene. “She was not an employee. She was just a customer. And she was with friends. Matter of fact, she was not anywhere near the front window where the bullets went through. She was further at the back of the bar. And she was just spending time with her friends when she got struck by stray gunfire.”

Police are now searching for the three men, including the alleged shooter, who took off in a dark pickup truck. A second patron was injured by glass that shattered and flew into his face, cutting him, when the hail of bullets tore through the bar.

Fox 29 News had more. Apparently the shooter was angered that the single pool table in the bar was fully scheduled, and he couldn’t play.

So, what happens? An innocent girl is killed, because someone, almost certainly fueled with alcohol, gets pissed off for a stupid reason and decides, “Hey, I want to spend the rest of my life in prison!”

As of 11:59 PM EDT on Tuesday, June 28^th, the 179^th day of the year, the City of Brotherly Love has seen 254 murders. That’s a 5.58% decrease from the 269 homicides on the same day in 2021, but a 28.28% increase over June 28, 2020.

The math is ugly. 254 ÷ 179 = 1.4190 homicides per day, which works out to 517.93 murders for the year, if the current rate is maintained. Calculated another way, dividing 254 by the 269 homicides on the same day last year, then multiplying that by 562, last year’s total killings, I come up with 530.66 murders for 2022. I tend to use the second method, because it accounts for the greater number of warm days remaining in the year, but in either case, Philly is headed for well over 500 dead bodies littering the streets this year.

There’s no accounting for reasons here; the guy was drunk, and drunks don’t think rationally. He’s almost certainly defecating bricks right now, trying to figure out how he can get away, get lost, and never be found. He’ll probably try to get his hands on all the cash he can, fuel up his pickup truck, and hit the road. But there were plenty of security cameras, he’ll almost certainly be identified, and be lucky to make it far. If his friends help him, by giving him extra cash, maybe helping get him a different car, they’ll go to jail, too.

Who knows which way he’ll head? Were it me, I’d head for Maine, and try to sneak across the border into New Brunswick, but that’s a long drive from Philly. Maybe he’ll head south, and try to get lost in the hills and hollers of West Virginia or eastern Kentucky. You really can get lost around here, but you have to know how to live in Appalachia to be able to live in Appalachia. But he’s just as likely to get caught in Northeast Philly or Bucks County.