August 28, 2021
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Shots rang out after a football game between Academy Park and Pennsbury, killing a 7-year-old girl who was struck by a stray bullet.
A 7-year-old girl was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting Friday night after a High School football game in Sharon Hill between Academy Park and Pennsbury.
At around 9 p.m., seven shots rang out near the main entrance to Knight Park and attendees, coaches and players scattered and took cover, the Delco Times reported.
A total of 600 people attended the game, and most were out of the stadium before the shooting started.
Players from both teams were still on the field when the shots rang out, and coaches ordered all people to take cover. Players ducked behind a small maintenance vehicle and ran to the back of the stands on the far side of the stadium.
Coaches told the Pennsbury players "Helmets on, helmets on, helmets on," as they ran to take cover in their team bus. Local reporter Jack McCafferty tweeted that the team originally stormed the press box for safety but later "reversed course" to their bus.
Jason Vosheski, the Academy Park football coach and athletic director, and Pennsbury coach Dan McShane both said all their players were safe after the incident.
Police told the Delco Times that at least two juvenile victims were shot. The site of the shooting was immediately closed off and there was a facemask and sock visible inside the crime scene.
Police said the girl died at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia that night from a gunshot wound to the neck.
6ABC reported that three people are in custody, their weapons have been recovered. One of the suspects was known to have been found near the Sharon Hill train station.
A witness told 6ABC that she was standing next to the girl who was shot and felt the girl grab her leg as she was going down after being shot.
"I kneeled down but then her mom kneeled down next to her, and then I had to get up and go look for my children," Deanna Bankston said. "The bullets burnt my, one of my ears going by … The sounds the bullets make going past your ear is crazy. I'm just glad all my kids made it."
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