Two police officers in Philadelphia were shot and wounded during the city’s July 4 celebrations along the Ben Franklin Parkway.
Diggs was hit in the head while Foster’s shoulder was grazed. Both officers were treated at Jefferson University Hospital and have since been released, according to statements released to PEOPLE.
Philadelphia Police Department
Outlaw said neither officer heard any shots or rounds fired and that no arrests had been made.
The fireworks followed the last night of the Wawa Welcome America Concert, whereJason Deruloperformed.
The Philadelphia Police Department told PEOPLE Tuesday that it will release updated information when it’s available to share.
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“We don’t know if this was ricochet from celebratory gunfire, we don’t know if this was intentional, we don’t know if this was someone taking a shot intentionally at these officers from long-range,” Outlaw said in the Monday night presser. “We’re all just extremely grateful that this wasn’t worse than what it was.”
Photos of the highway patrol officer’s hat shared to social media show a bullet lodged inside, alongside a prayer card for a late Philadelphia police chaplain, Father Steve Wetzel, who died on April 27, according toThe Philadelphia Inquirer.
“It is miraculous, again, the fact that the round stopped in his hat,” Outlaw said during Monday’s news conference, continuing on to say she believed the bullet went “up the inside” of the officer’s hat, before hitting his forehead and then stopping within the hat itself.
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Also speaking during the press conference, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney described Fourth of July in the city as a “laid back, chill day,” until the shooting sent crowds running.
“Weather was beautiful, concert was beautiful, but we live in America, and we have the Second Amendment, and we have the Supreme Court of the United States telling everybody that they can carry a gun wherever they want, it’s like Dodge City,” Kenney told reporters. “We have to come to grips with what this country is about right now. We had a beautiful day out there today except for some nitwit either shooting from a window or shooting from somewhere who has a gun who probably shouldn’t have had it.”
Kenney continued to criticize the federal government’s lack of meaningful progress on gun control, telling reporters that “until Americans decide that they want to give up the guns and give up the opportunity to get guns we’re gonna have this problem.”
Also on July 4, six people were killed and at least 24 were injured after a gunman opened fire during a parade inHighland Park, Illinois. A person of interest has since been detained in connection with the crime.
In Akron, Ohio, fireworks were canceled following protests the day before, after it was revealed thatpolice shot Black motorist Jaylan Walker over 60 timeswhen he was killed on June 27.
source: people.com
