Teen girl critically struck by celebratory New Year's gunfire at Chester home: police
CHESTER, Pa. - Police confirm celebratory New Year’s gunfire was the act behind a teen girl being shot in the back inside her Delaware County home.
A single bullet hole is the only evidence of the New Year’s shooting at the home on the 1100 block of Keystone Avenue in Chester. A 16-year-old girl, who family members say was in her bedroom playing video games at the time, was struck in the back.
Just as the clock struck midnight neighbors on the block heard the shots and knew it wasn’t fireworks. Chester police are now searching for whoever pulled the trigger.
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Neighbor Gerard Farnan said, "We heard about eight shots go off in the backyard. We knew right away. They sounded like an automatic weapon because they were so fast."
The family of the teen says, after surgery, she is speaking and is aware of what happened. But they also say she most likely has a long road to a full recovery. Neighbors are understandably upset.
"Oh my God, it breaks my heart. Breaks my heart every time I think what happened to that child," neighbor Gwendolyn Venitez remarked.
Police send out warnings every year about illegally shooting guns off in the air to celebrate New Year’s and the shooting of an innocent teen is exactly why.
The teen remains at Crozer Medical Center in critical but stable condition. If you have any information on the shooting you are asked to call Chester Police.