Photo by GTXTOM
INQUIRER: The day started out stellar but was marred by three shootings, one by police, about 9:20 p.m. blocks from the celebration. Police grazed a 16-year-old male in the chest after he wounded at least one person, possibly two, then aimed his gun at officers near 17th and JFK Boulevard, police said. Authorities believe that the teenager had fired on a 17-year-old male and struck him in the leg. They believe the alleged shooter next shot a 19-year-old man in the left leg. “The officer saw him shoot the other person, and he ordered him to drop the gun,” said City Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey. “He didn’t, and [the officer] shot him.” All three were reported in stable condition, 
Ramsey said. In his four years involved with the fireworks celebrations in Philadelphia, this was the first shooting nearby, Ramsey said. He noted that it did not occur at the concert in the Art Museum area, but near Love Park, at 16th and JFK Boulevard, where a group of about 1,000 teenagers had gathered earlier in the evening. “It actually went pretty well,” Ramsey said of the annual event, shortly after the fireworks ended, though he added that the large crowd still had to be dispersed. MORE
DAILY NEWS: Chaos erupted around the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Center City after a 17-year-old youth and a 19-year-old man were each shot in the leg about 9:20 p.m. during a dispute. Soon afterward, as police were chasing the alleged shooter — a 16-year-old boy — he pulled out a gun and pointed it at cops, prompting an officer to shoot him near 17th Street and JFK Boulevard, police said. To add to the chaotic scene late Wednesday, a mass of sweaty, angry Occupy National Gathering protesters were making their way up Arch Street, chanting and pumping their fists, when reports of chaos amid the festivities on the Parkway began to spread. Hundreds of people swarmed the Parkway and surrounding streets, with cops on foot, in vehicles and on bikes, and some streets closed off. Lt. Marty Best, of the 9th Police District, standing at 17th Street and JFK Boulevard, said afterward, “It is a little crazy. You have so much going on. You have a lot of different people. People throwing firecrackers, the traffic. You have the volume of people in general. You have groups of people running. By the time we sort it out, it’s all a little bit draining.” Best said a man — later said to be the 17-year-old — was shot in the leg near 17th Street and JFK, then ran toward 16th Street and the Parkway, where police found him. “The doer was seen running from the scene,” from 17th onto JFK, Best said. Police later said that a 19-year-old also had been shot in the leg at 17th and JFK by the 16-year-old. Standing on the Parkway about 9:45, Chief Inspector Joseph Sullivan said the alleged shooter had “pulled a gun on police” so “police shot him.” Best said the man shot by police suffered a graze wound to the chest. MORE
RELATED: Although it has not been the best of times lately for singer Lauryn Hill, she still graced fans with her presence to help celebrate the 4th of July holiday yesterday evening during a surprise live performance. Just a few days ago we report that Lauryn Hill will be facing up to three years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of tax evasion dating back to 2005 through 2007 for $1.8 million in earnings. The Fugees singer will be sentenced this coming November, but that didn’t stop her from showing up in a surprise performance during the closing act of the annual Wawa Welcome Philadelphia concert last night.
RELATED: Philadelphia police are looking for surveillance photos and potential witnesses in the death of a 32-year-old man, shot in the chest early Sunday morning near Fourth and Lombard Streets in Society Hill. Michael G. Hagan Jr., an information-technology consultant who grew up in Pennsauken and moved to the city’s Fishtown neighborhood several years ago, was an apparent robbery victim. Family members said Hagan had been out Saturday night on the Delaware River waterfront with two old friends from Pennsauken, a schoolteacher and a Peace Corps volunteer. At some point, the friends shared a cab headed toward South Street, but they had separated when the fatal shooting occurred. A passerby found Hagan slumped near the corner of Fourth and Lombard and called police about 3:30 a.m. Sunday, the authorities said Wednesday. He was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and pronounced dead at 4:30 a.m. In November, another brutal, unsolved shooting took place about a block away. A 46-year-old man, Darren Rogers, was knocked to the ground as he walked past two men in hoodies on the 400 block of Pine Street. They punched and kicked him for about 45 seconds, then fired a single shot into his chest, which struck his spinal cord and left him paralyzed. MORE
RELATED: Police pulled a dead body out of the Delaware River near the Seaport Musuem minutes ago. DEVELOPING
UPDATE: The identity of the woman hasn’t been released and police say she appears to be in her early 20s. Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding her death. MORE