An altercation at a Chickie's & Pete's restaurant in Northeast Philadelphia on Thursday night left a 23-year-old man hospitalized with a gunshot wound, police said.
The incident happened around 8 p.m. outside the Mayfair restaurant, located at the intersection of Robbins Avenue and Mulberry Street.
The shooting stemmed from a confrontation at the bar, where a woman received unwanted comments from a group of men, investigators said. The woman went outside to rejoin her boyfriend, who was eating dinner outdoors, and told him what had happened.
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The boyfriend, who had a license to carry a firearm, went into the restaurant and flashed his gun at the men at the bar, police said. The confrontation then moved outside the restaurant and a gun battle ensued with multiple shots fired. The boyfriend was shot once in the abdomen. The gunman and others involved in the disagreement fled the scene.
The victim drove himself to Jefferson-Frankford Hospital and was placed in critical condition. He was later transferred to Jefferson-Torresdale for further treatment.
No weapons were recovered at the scene and no arrests have been made, police said. The victim was not identified.
About a dozen people were in the restaurant at the time of the shooting, Chickie's & Pete's owner Pete Ciarrocchi told PhillyVoice. He went to the restaurant immediately after finding out what had happened.
"The people inside kept eating," Ciarrochi said. "It's unfortunate, but people don't seem to get alarmed with all the shootings anymore. There was no immediate, 'let's get out of here.' It was a hot day. It just kind of happened. There was no robbery, nothing like that."
Cirarrochi said he gave the restaurant's surveillance footage to police to help them locate a shooting suspect.
The Mayfair location is the original Chickie's & Pete's restaurant. Cirarrochi said the restaurant will remain open.
An investigation into the shooting remains ongoing.