Photo: RYAN COLLERD / AFP / Getty Images
Authorities said that at least three people were shot during a Ramadan event in a Philadelphia park on Wednesday (April 10) afternoon. A child also suffered a broken leg after being hit by a police vehicle while running from the scene.
According to WPVI, hundreds of people were gathering to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, when shots rang out around 2:40 p.m. ET.
The area was littered with chairs and tables that were left abandoned as people fled the area.
"I just saw everybody just running and frantic, you know, everybody. The kids, people's strollers getting turned over, everybody screaming," a witness told the news station. "I heard fireworks... and it sort of turned into gunshots."
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said police officers were writing tickets nearby when they heard roughly 30 gunshots exchanged by two groups of people. The officers rushed to the scene and encountered three males and a female armed with guns fleeing the area. The officers arrested the individuals and recovered four weapons without incident.
Bethel said that a female officer confronted a 15-year-old armed with a gun in another area of the park. She shot the teen when he refused to drop the weapon. The officer quickly secured the firearm, put the boy into her patrol car, and drove him to the hospital.
He said that a 22-year-old was shot in the stomach, and a juvenile arrived at the hospital with gunshot wounds to their hands.
Officials did not say what sparked the gunfire.