November 23, 2023
THOM CARROLL/for PhillyVoice
A 31-year-old man was shot to death inside a mini-mart in the West Oak Lane neighborhood of Philadelphia on Thanksgiving Day, police said.
A 31-year-old man was shot to death inside a mini-mart in the West Oak Lane neighborhood of Philadelphia on Thanksgiving Day.
The shooting occurred at the Ogontz Minimarket on the 6700 block of Ogontz Ave around 11:49 a.m., police said. The victim, who has not yet been identified, was shot multiple times in various parts of his body, according to NBC Philadelphia. After discovering the man wounded at the scene, police transported him to Albert Einstein Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead just before noon.
Police have not named a motive or any identified potential suspects in connection to the deadly incident as of Thursday afternoon. No weapons were recovered at the scene.
The incident wasn't the only instance of gun violence to occur in Philadelphia on Thanksgiving Day. Another shooting on the 9000 block of Ashton Road in Northeast Philadelphia left a 26-year-old man dead in the early morning hours on Thursday, Fox 29 reported. In that case, police did recover a weapon and arrest a 22-year-old man in connection with the shooting. Neither the victim nor the suspect in that shooting had been named by Thursday afternoon.
While gun violence has long plagued the city of Philadelphia, violent crime has generally been on the decline in the city so far this year. In 2023 thus far, the city has seen a 23% year-over-year decrease in homicides and a 11% decrease in aggravated assaults conducted with handguns, according to the most recent data from the Philadelphia Police Department.
There have been a total of 2,888 shooting incidents across Philadelphia in 2023 so far – 22% fewer shootings than the city saw by this point in 2022.
