PHILADELPHIA — Authorities announced new charges against four youths arrested after a shootout earlier this month between rival groups that injured three people and sent participants at a joyful celebration of the end of Ramadan in West Philadelphia fleeing for cover. to search.
Prosecutors said Friday that the 15- and 16-year-old youths arrested after the April 10 gunfire in Clara Muhammad Square will be charged as adults and face counts of aggravated assault, conspiracy, simple assault and reckless driving firearm endangerment charges. confronted before. A 21-year-old man was also charged with weapons counts.
Prosecutors said the weapons recovered from the five were only 13 of the 33 expired shell casings collected at the scene, and they urged any other people involved in the shootings to turn themselves in before authorities came to arrest them.
The annual Eid al-Fitr event, held outside a large mosque in the city’s Parkside neighborhood, came to a sudden end when about 30 shots rang out around 2:30 p.m., Philadelphia police said. A 15-year-old boy suffered leg and shoulder wounds when he was shot by police, and a man was shot and a youth was wounded in one hand.
Authorities said nearly 1,000 people, including many families, attended the event. Witnesses described running to tents near the park, hiding behind trees and falling to the sidewalk to avoid the gunfire, in an effort to protect children.
Eid al-Fitr is an Islamic holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the month in which devout Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset every day. Ramadan is a time of increased worship, charity and good deeds. Eid al-Fitr means the feast, or festival, of breaking the fast.