Watch Live: SEPTA police are discussing the bus murder around 10:30 a.m. Thursday.
A young person was shot and killed after an argument erupted with another person on a SEPTA bus late Wednesday night.
The shooting took place on a Route 23 bus on the 5200 block of Germantown Avenue, near East Bringhurst Street, in the Germantown neighborhood, shortly before 11 p.m., Philadelphia police said.
Police officers got onto to bus to find a male — later described as a juvenile in his late teens — bleeding from his chest on the floor, Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said.
Police rushed him to the hospital, but the young man died a short time later, Small said. Police didn’t have an ID for him.
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Investigators said surveillance video showed an argument between the dead person and another person just before the shooting.
One of the bullets nearly struck the driver, who ducked, Small said. A bullet hole could be seen in the glass partition behind the driver.
When the driver heard the confrontation, “she was able to duck down,” Small said.
“The driver immediately ducked down and then opened the doors to the SEPTA bus after she heard the shots,” Small said. “And that’s when our shooter — who’s described as a male wearing a hooded sweatshirt with a jacket over top and a mask covering his face — exited the bus from the front door and was last seen on foot south on Germantown Avenue.
She is “extremely lucky to not be struck by gunfire” as the bullet went through the partition at about head level. Small said.
Frantic passengers called 911 moments after the shooting, police said.
No arrests have been made and police have not released information on any suspects.
Entering Thursday, at least 165 homicides had been reported in Philadelphia in 2023, according to Philadelphia police data. That’s down 12% from the same time last year, but on pace to be one of the deadliest years in recent history.
There are additional resources for people or communities that have endured gun violence in Philadelphia. Further information can be found here.