Cemetery seeing the tragic result of Philadelphia's gun violence crisis
PHILADELPHIA - A cemetery just outside of Philadelphia is seeing the tragic result of the city's worsening gun violence crisis.
Workers at Friends Southwestern Cemetery in Upper Darby say 90% of new burials are victims of gun violence.
"I got chills because I’ve been here a lot of times either supporting people or participating in a funeral service," Mustafa Ali told FOX 29.
Friends Southwestern Cemetery, located on Powell Road, is the resting place for several of Ali's family and friends who have been lost to gun violence.
Ali himself could have joined the dead at a young age. He severed a 6-year prison sentence for firearms and was later shot 10 times.
Ali considers himself lucky and uses his spotted past as a cautionary tale for kids who may be wandering down a dangerous path.
"Don’t pick the guns up, that’s the problem they pick the gun up," Ali said. "Everybody says ‘put the guns down, don’t pick the guns up’ when you pick the guns up it’s easy to shoot somebody."
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He is now working two jobs and started his own clothing line "Stay In Your Lane."
Philadelphia's gun violence problem nearly came to the doorstep of Friends Southwestern Cemetery earlier this summer when police say two men were killed while riding in a funeral procession for a shooting victim.
According to the latest data from the Philadelphia Police Department, there have been over 340 homicides in Philadelphia this year. That number is currently outpacing a historically bloody 2021 during which 562 people were killed.