Jeremiah Wilcox: 13-year-old Philadelphia boy dies after being shot multiple times in head
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: A shooting in Philadelphia has taken the life of a 13-year-old boy. Jeremiah Wilcox was killed after being shot multiple times on a Philadelphia street on Monday, October 10, according to the police.
He was out with friends on North Smedley Street in West Oak lane when he was shot in the head. Officers rushed Jeremiah to the Albert Einstein Medical Center where he was declared dead 2 hours later.
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Police are informing the teen's family before revealing his identify, but they still need the public's aid in order to figure out what happened and why, reported CBS news.
After responding to a call just before 7 pm on Monday, police found Wilcox shot several times in the head and face at 65th Avenue and Smedley Street in West Oak Lane. "Police responded to a 911 call report of gunshots," Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said. "They found a young teenage male laying on the sidewalk, bleeding heavily from his face." Police reported no arrests as of Tuesday, and said no weapon was found at the scene. An investigation is underway to determine who the shooter was. “We’re not certain if he was struck by stray gunfire,” Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said 6ABC.
“But who and why someone would shoot a teenager intentionally, it’s unknown why someone would do that to someone so young.”
Jerry T Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, expressed his sorrow over the loss of the eighth-grader. He said that his "heart breaks" for Jeremiah's relatives.
“Our city is once again reeling from the murder of a child — a thirteen-year-old boy in West Oak Lane whose life was stolen from him, robbed of his future dreams and aspirations, never to even graduate eighth grade,” Jordan said in a statement he released on Twitter on Monday evening.
“He was just a baby,” cried his aunt Jamillah Patterson. “He didn’t deserve this.”
— Jerry T. Jordan (@jerrytjordan) October 11, 2022
Truly devastating. We're sending our deepest condolences--insufficient though they are--to Jeremiah's family, to the Wagner community, and to all of Jeremiah's loved ones. #phled #EndGunViolence https://t.co/mczAC3gSRd
“My heart breaks for all who knew and loved him: his family, his friends, his neighbors, the entire Wagner Middle School community; the impact of such a tragedy is measureless.”
He criticized Harrisburg for doing nothing and for not letting Philadelphia pass sensible gun restrictions. In Philadelphia this year, there have been 416 homicides, according to Jordan. 186 of the 386 fatal gunshot victims in the City of Brotherly Love were under the age of 18; this is a startling 48% of all casualties.