Seven people injured in shooting involving Philadelphia city bus

Seven bystanders were injured on Wednesday in a shooting involving a Philadelphia city bus, authorities said, the fourth gunfire incident on the transit system in as many days.

The latest shooting took place in the afternoon in a north-eastern neighborhood, said John Golden, a spokesperson for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or Septa.

The injured were people on the street, Golden said, and they were taken to Einstein Medical Center and Jefferson Torresdale Hospital. The bus was hit by gunfire, but there were no reports of injuries to passengers or the driver.

Tanya Little, a police spokesperson, said numerous 911 calls were received just before 3pm and police found seven people with gunshot wounds.

Monique Braxton, deputy chief of communications for the Philadelphia school district, said the shooting occurred near two schools, Northeast high school and Crossan elementary, but she didn’t know whether any students were victims.

The elementary school was dismissing students at the time but pulled them back inside and locked down, she added. It was later given the all-clear from police.

Wednesday’s shooting came a day after a passenger on another bus was shot, marking the third time in three days that someone was killed while riding, entering or leaving a Septa bus.

That shooting occurred around 6.35pm on Tuesday, when police said a verbal argument and then a physical fight began between passengers. One exited, turned and fired two shots from a handgun, hitting a man later identified as 37-year-old Carmelo Drayton. He died shortly afterward at a hospital.

The shooter, who officials said was wearing a kind of mask not allowed on the transit system, fled.

Septa’s chief of transit police, Charles Lawson, said the shots were fired at the victim while the driver was “immediately behind” him.

On Monday, a 17-year-old student was killed and four other people were wounded when gunfire erupted at a bus stop. The victims included two women who were riding on a bus.

And on Sunday, around 11.30pm, a 27-year-old man was killed by another passenger moments after they both got off a bus. Witnesses said the two had argued.

As of late Wednesday afternoon, no arrests had been made in any of the shootings, said Frank Vanore, deputy commissioner of the Philadelphia police department.

While serious crime overall is down along the transportation system, Lawson said, a pattern has emerged of people carrying weapons, usually illegally, arguing and then opening fire.