On July 2–3, 2023, a

shooting spree A spree killer is someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders in a short time, often in multiple locations. There are different opinions about what durations of time a killing spree may take place in. The United States ...

occurred in the

Kingsessing Kingsessing is a neighborhood in the Southwest section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. On the west side of the Schuylkill River, it is next to the neighborhoods of Cedar Park and Elmwood Park, as well as the borough of Yeadon in ...

neighborhood of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania, United States. Five people were killed and four people were injured. The police apprehended the shooter without incident.

Shooting

The first victim, Joseph Wamah Jr., was killed around 12:30 a.m. EDT on July 2, 2023. The subsequent victims were killed around 8:30 p.m. on July 3, 2023. The shooter, wearing body armor and armed with an

AR-15–style rifle An AR-15–style rifle is a lightweight semi-automatic rifle based on or similar to the Colt AR-15 design. The Colt model removed the selective fire feature of its predecessor, the original ArmaLite AR-15, which is a scaled-down derivative of t ...

and a pistol, opened fire in southwest Kingsessing. He shot randomly at people and occupied cars, killing four more people and wounding four others, two of whom were wounded by gunfire, and two of whom were wounded by shattered glass. Police officers were flagged down and rendered first aid to victims until hearing more gunshots. The accused was then taken into custody. At some point during the shooting, the brother of one of the victims returned fire in the direction of the shooter. He was temporarily taken into custody, but later released without charges.

Victims

Those killed were Dajuan Brown, 15; Lashyd Merritt, 20; Ralph Moralis, 59, Dymir Stanton, 29; and Joseph Wamah Jr., 31.

Accused

Kimbrady Carriker, age 40, of Philadelphia, was charged with five counts of murder and six other counts. He was denied bail. It was reported that he made violent and disturbing posts on social media. On a now-deleted

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

profile, Carriker posted about "evil spirits" and stated that he went on "patrols" in his neighborhood to fight crime. According to two law enforcement officers, Carriker told police that he carried out the incident to "clean up the neighborhood". The prosecution revealed that a

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

dated June 23 was found in Carriker's house, but have not disclosed further details. People who knew Carriker said he was acting "agitated" in the days before the shooting, and was wearing a bulletproof vest around his house. He was convicted of a misdemeanor in 2005, preventing him from possessing firearms. On August 29, 2023, a judge ruled that Carriker was not able to stand trial due to his mental health. On March 19, 2024, the Philadelphia District Attorney's office said that Carriker was deemed competent for trial.

Investigation

Both the AR-15

– The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

style rifle and 9mm handgun in the possession of the accused were

privately made firearm A homemade firearm, also called a ghost gun or privately made firearm (PMF), is a firearm made by a private individual, in contrast to one produced by a corporate or government entity. The term ''ghost gun'' is used mostly in the United Stat ...

s, according to the

Philadelphia Police Department The Philadelphia Police Department (PPD, Philly PD, or Philly Police) is the police agency responsible for law enforcement and investigations within the County and City of Philadelphia. The PPD is one of the oldest municipal police agencies, f ...

. The firearms did not have any manufacturer's markings. The city of Philadelphia filed a lawsuit on July 5 against two firearm component suppliers,

Polymer80 Polymer80, Inc. was an American manufacturer of firearms parts kits that included unfinished receivers (also known as "80 percent" receivers) used for making privately made firearms. The company was founded in 2013 by Loran Kelley Jr. and Davi ...

and JSD Supply, which are among the largest suppliers of such parts in the city.

Reactions

Philadelphia mayor

Jim Kenney James Francis Kenney (born August 7, 1958) is an American politician who served as the 99th mayor of Philadelphia from 2016 to 2024. Kenney was first elected on November 3, 2015, defeating his Republican rival Melissa Murray Bailey after winning ...

expressed outrage over the shooting, saying "This country needs to reexamine its conscience and find out how to get guns out of dangerous people's hands."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingsessing shooting, 2023 2023 in Philadelphia 2023 mass shootings in the United States 2023 shooting Deaths by firearm in Pennsylvania July 2023 crimes in the United States Kingsessing, Philadelphia Mass shootings in Pennsylvania Deaths by homemade firearm Mass shootings involving AR-15–style rifles Mass murder in Pennsylvania 2023 murders in the United States Spree shootings in the United States 2020s crimes in Pennsylvania Mass murder in the United States in the 2020s Mass murder in 2023