4 teenage college students have been injured in a capturing close to a highschool in West Philadelphia on Wednesday, simply after lessons have been dismissed for Thanksgiving break, the authorities mentioned.

The scholars, two 15-year-old ladies and two 16-year-old boys, have been taken to hospitals and have been in steady situation, John Stanford, first deputy commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Division, mentioned at a information convention on Wednesday.

The capturing occurred simply after 11:30 a.m. outdoors a magnificence salon and a few block from Overbrook Excessive Faculty. Deputy Commissioner Stanford mentioned a bunch of scholars had been standing outdoors the salon when somebody inside a passing silver S.U.V. fired at them.

The police didn’t title the victims. One 15-year-old lady suffered gunshot wounds to her left shoulder and left thigh, and the opposite 15-year-old lady suffered a gunshot wound to her left shoulder, the police mentioned in an announcement. A 16-year-old boy was shot within the left hand and had a graze wound on his face, and the opposite 16-year-old boy suffered a gunshot wound to his proper leg.

The police mentioned that no arrests had been made and no weapon had been recovered. Deputy Commissioner Stanford mentioned it was too early within the investigation to know if the scholars had been focused.

“Simply one other incident of gun violence in our metropolis,” he mentioned on the information convention.

Gun violence in Philadelphia has been significantly unhealthy this 12 months. Greater than 1,400 individuals within the metropolis had been shot as of August, a better toll than within the a lot bigger cities of New York and Los Angeles. Officers are struggling to answer the variety of weapons on the road. For each unlawful gun seized by the police in Philadelphia between 1999 and 2019, about three weapons have been purchased or bought legally, in line with a metropolis report launched this 12 months.

“We’re going to need to have some actual severe assist to get our arms round our metropolis downside with these weapons,” Tony B. Watlington, the Philadelphia faculties superintendent, mentioned at a information convention on Wednesday.

In September, a 14-year-old pupil, Nicolas Elizalde, was killed and 4 others have been injured in a capturing close to Roxborough Excessive Faculty. The 5 youngsters have been leaving the sphere after a soccer scrimmage when the capturing occurred. Roxborough Excessive Faculty is about 5 miles north of Overbrook.

4 individuals between the ages of 15 and 21 have been arrested in reference to the Roxborough Excessive Faculty capturing.