Shooting Last Night
We stayed in last night and watched the charming and hilarious Lars and the Real Girl. Across the street in the park there was a huge basketball contest that had been going on since before I got home from work, tons of kids shooting hoops.
Sometime around 8:30 or 9:00 we heard a familiar POP POP POP!
“Was that fireworks or a gun?” Christina asked. Last week we’d rushed to the door, cellphones in hand, to report a shooting that turned out to be nothing more than bottle-rockets. I peeked out the window, and saw hordes of kids and adults running in all directions from the basketball court: from the air it probably looked like a giant living asterisk. Hundreds of kids, runningas fast as they could.
My neighbor’s son was already out on the porch. “Did you hear those shots?” he asked.
“Is that what it was? Guns again?” I asked back.
“Oh yeah. I was over there with my little cousin, and this group of girls started fighting…” An acquaintance walked by and waved to my neighbor. “That shit’s messed up,” the guy said.
“Sure is,” my neighbor replied, shaking his head. “Motherfuckers ruin everything for everyone else…” He turned back to me. “So yeah, these girls were fighting and then someone pulled out a gun and just started shooting!”
“Was anyone hurt?” Christina asked. “And was anyone hit that wasn’t supposed to be?”
Our neighbor didn’t know. “Here comes po-po,” he said, as the police cars flew up the street, lights flashing. “Motherfuckers had to go ruin it again,” he repeated, shaking his head.
That’s the first shooting this year in our neighborhood. it would be nice if the newspapers paid attention, but our neighborhood is poor so why bother?
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Hello, my name is Kellie Murphy and I’m a new staff writer at Philadelphia Weekly who is working on a follow-up to that Tara Nurin story about the Southwest section back in July. Mine will be a different story. I came across your comment back then, and now your blog, and have got to speak with you further. I’m responding particularly to your question “it would be nice if the newspapers paid attention, but our neighborhood is poor so why bother?”
We have a new editor at PW. We want to bother.
I’ll be in Southwest tomorrow (December 4th). ALL DAY TOMORROW. Please call me. My number is 215 599 7678. The email is kmurphy@philadelphiaweekly.com. I’ll be checking email from the field as well at sunflower823@mac.com.
December 3rd, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Kellie Murphy, Philadelphia Weekly, 215 599 7678