March 28, 2022
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Sean Toomey, 15, was fatally shot in the Wissinoming section of Philadelphia on March 24, 2022.
A 15-year-old boy who was shot in the head late last week in the Wissinoming section of Northeast Philadelphia has died of his injuries, police said.
Sean Toomey was retrieving water from his father's car along the 6200 block of Mulberry Street last Thursday night when he was struck by two bullets, according to investigators. At least one of the gunshots struck Toomey in the head.
The boy's father heard the two shots from inside his home and initially thought they were firecrackers.
"But it only takes a second to grab some water and get in the house and he wasn't coming back in," John Toomey told 6ABC. "So I got curious, I put my sweatshirt on, and I went outside and I saw him lying on my neighbor's lawn."
Toomey was taken to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital in critical condition. Police revealed Monday morning that the teen died Friday afternoon.
“You can’t describe it. It’s not something I want anyone to experience," the teen's father told CBS3. "I was just in the hospital with him. Doctors said he’s brain dead."
Bullets hit Sean Toomey as he was getting water from a vehicle outside his home. Police said the teen has since died from his injuries. https://t.co/r1qjf4kWV9
— Action News on 6abc (@6abc) March 28, 2022
The shooting happened shortly after 9 p.m. A neighbor on Mulberry Street told CBS3 that just prior to the gunshots, two men had attempted to break in to her car when she had pulled into a parking space. Her two-year-old son was in the car with her at the time.
When the woman called her boyfriend for help, he reportedly came outside to locate the suspects, who had begun to flee the scene.
It's still unclear whether Toomey was approached and targeted in the shooting.
Philadelphia police have not made any arrests and no weapons were recovered at the scene. The investigation remains ongoing.
