City leaders address surge in gun violence in Philadelphia

Mayor Jim Kenney and Commissioner Danielle Outlaw led a meeting Wednesday on surge of gun violence in Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA - Mayor Jim Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw tried to assure the public they're doing everything they can to stop the bloodshed in the city.

"It’s no secret that we’re experiencing one of the worst periods of violent crime in our city’s history," Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said.

A city in crisis trying to deal with an unprecedented level of gun violence. The challenges plaguing the city continue to stack with one of them the type of guns being used.

"We are seeing a stark contrast in just the number of privately made firearms or ghost guns that were seeing compared to previous years," Outlaw explained.

Outlaw added that many of the gun arrests they make are of repeat offenders with open gun cases already on them.

"We need these arrests to stick. We need for there to be serious consequences because these folks have shown that there is no regard whatsoever," Outlaw said.

At Wednesday bi-weekly Zoom press conference on gun violence, police released disturbing footage of three separate shootings asking the public for help.

The mayor says this is indeed a crisis, but would not declare a state of emergency or bring in help from the national guard.

"It doesn’t unlock funding. It doesn’t change the inter-agency coordination all these things we’ve been doing," Kenney said.

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