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A 40-year-old Philadelphia man was charged Wednesday with killing five people in one of several shooting rampages across the nation that killed at least 13 people, wounded at least 30 more and cast a grim pall over 4th of July festivities.
Kimbrady Carriker was ordered held without bail in connection with the shootings Monday night. Authorities say Carriker was armed with an assault rifle and a handgun and wore a bulletproof vest Monday night when he fatally shot one man in his home in the Kingsessing section of Southwest Philadelphia. The suspect then began shooting at people “seemingly at random” on neighborhood streets before he was cornered in an alley and surrendered, police said.
The shooting was the nation’s 29th mass killing in 2023, according to a database maintained by USA TODAY, The Associated Press and Northeastern University. It’s the most on record for this time of year.
“I am frustrated and outraged that mass shootings like this continue to happen in communities across the United States,” Mayor Jim Kenney said Tuesday. “This country needs to re-examine its conscience and find out how to get guns out of dangerous people’s hands.”
Other developments:
∎ Four people were killed and several others wounded in a shooting Wednesday at a 4th of July celebration in Shreveport, Louisiana, authorities said.
∎ Nine people were wounded, including two juveniles, in a shooting spree early Wednesday at a July 4th celebration in Washington, D.C., police said.
∎ One person was killed and six wounded in a shooting spree at a 4th of July block party in Salisbury, Maryland.
∎ Three people were killed and eight others wounded Monday night in Fort Worth, Texas, when “unknown males” began shooting into a crowd, police said.
Youngest victim in Philadelphia rampage was 15
The Philadelphia fatalities included Daujan Brown, 15, Lashyd Merritt, 20, Dymir Stanton, 29, Joseph Wamah, Jr., 31, and Ralph Moralis, 59. A 2-year-old boy and a 13-year-old youth were wounded by gunfire and another 2-year-old boy and a woman were hit by shattered glass, prosecutors said.
Police said the shooter had a scanner to monitor police movement and extra ammunition magazines. The mayor thanked responding officers for limiting the bloodshed.
“That scene must have been chaotic,” Kenney said. “They were taking active fire, scooping people up, trying to get them to the hospital to save them. And our officers deserve our gratitude for their courage.”
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, speaking Wednesday on CNN, said Carriker appeared to have no connection to his victims. Krasner said Carriker had a “ghost gun” − untraceable guns that can be bought online and often assembled at home.
Carriker may have obtained the AR-15 and the ghost gun illegally, Krasner said, adding that the investigation into the guns will take time in part “because the NRA has done a hell of a job trying to make it difficult for people to investigate the source of a weapon.”
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