Two Philadelphia police officers were shot near the Benjamin Franklin Parkway late Monday as thousands of people celebrated a concert and fireworks display during the United States’ Independence Day.
The shooting came hours after a gunman on a rooftop opened fire on flag-waving families and children on bicycles at a July 4 parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, killing six people and more than one. thirty were injured.
The two officers were released from the hospital after sustaining non-life-threatening injuries, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said. The police are looking for the shooter.
Scenes of panic were experienced on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia and there are several videos circulating on the networks in which hundreds of people can be seen fleeing after hearing the shots.
Kenney has lamented in statements to the media that his administration had been “pleading with legislators” for some time to stop the “flow of weapons” in his city. “Our traditions cannot and will not be ruined by the scourge of gun violence,” he added.
Specifically, the shooting broke out late Monday near the Philadelphia Museum of Art, on the last day of a festival with a large number of people watching a fireworks display after a concert.
