A teenager is fighting for his life after a shooting near a playground near a SEPTA bus station in Philadelphia’s Frankford neighborhood on Tuesday.
The shooting happened just after 7:30 p.m. on April 29, 2025, while it was still daylight and at least 20 people were playing basketball in the nearby park on the 5200 block of Penn Street, police said.
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Officers who arrived at the scene found a 15-year-old boy on the sidewalk suffering from a gunshot wound to his lower back, according to the Philadelphia Police Department. He was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition.
“Very, very brazen for this shooter to just shoot a 15-year-old teenager at this particular intersection. Not only were there many people out because the weather is so nice, but our SEPTA depot has numerous exterior surveillance cameras,” Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said. “It’s a very, very, very brazen shooter that we are looking for at this time.”
At the scene, investigators said they found two spent shell casings, one live round and a one witness who saw the entire shooting unfold.
A SEPTA bus driver who was pulling out of the Frankford Transportation Center saw when the suspect wearing a gray-colored hoodie shot the teen, police said.
“Detectives are interviewing that bus driver,” Small said. “We are also going to pull the recordings from that SEPTA bus.”
The suspect was last seen walking on the southside of Penn Street, officials said.
Anyone with information on this incident is urged to the Philadelphia Police Department.
A violent night in Philadelphia
At least eight people were shot in four separate shootings — including this one — in Philadelphia Tuesday night.
The other shootings included one in West Philadelphia where a man was killed, a “triple “drive-by shooting” in North Philadelphia where a teen and women were hurt and a triple shooting in Grays Ferry, police said.
Entering Wednesday, at least 62 people had been killed in Philadelphia, according to police data. The year-to-date homicide total is down nearly 29% from last year and the lowest since at least 2008.
