Philadelphia mass shooting: Police connecting evidence in bus stop shooting that injured 8 students

PHILADELPHIA - Investigators in Philadelphia continue to piece together evidence surrounding a shooting at a SEPTA bus stop that injured eight high school students on Wednesday.

"Things are starting to come together," Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore told reporters Thursday. "We are moving towards knowing more about what happened yesterday and who we may be looking for." 

Investigators say just before 3 p.m. three gunmen got out of a vehicle near the 7300 block of Rising Sun Avenue and opened fire on a group of Northeast High School students waiting to board a SEPTA bus. 

Eight students, including seven boys and one girl, between the ages of 15-17 were struck multiple times by gunfire. Seven of the victims are said to be in stable condition, and police say a 16-year-old boy was critically wounded by nine gunshot wounds to the torso.

"He's still in critical, we checked on him today, I am told that the doctors are optimistic, we have to get through today, but they're looking to upgrade him at some point," said Vanore, who asked the public to keep the teen in their prayers.

Two SEPTA buses were struck by the barrage of gunfire, but police said no one on board was injured. This comes as SEPTA grapples with a spike in gun violence on and around their property that left three dead and four injured over a two-day span this week.

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Philadelphia mass shooting: 8 students shot at SEPTA bus stop; 3 shooters, driver sought

Eight Philadelphia students were shot as they waited to board a SEPTA bus on their way home from school Wednesday afternoon. 11 students have been shot in the city on their way to or from school so far this week.

Vanore said police recovered a blue 2018 Hyundai Sonata they believe was used by the gunman and the getaway driver Wednesday night abandoned in a dark alley on the 400 block of West Fern Street in Olney. FOX 29 was there as police located the Sonata.

Investigators learned that the car was stolen earlier this month from the city's 7th district, and when police went to take a report they found a stolen Kia Sportage parked in its place.

Both cars are being processed for forensic evidence.

Police say they are looking at all evidence and social media to see if the shooting was connected to, or in retaliation of Tuesday’s deadly shooting in Ogontz. Imhotop Charter School 17-year-old Dayemen Taylor was killed, a 15-year-old boy wounded and two women riding a SEPTA bus were hit with gunfire.

"These are individuals shooting at a crowd of kids," Deputy Commissioner Vanore elaborated. "Total between the two incidents, 11 kids were shot at. That’s really concerning, so we need people to see that, be as angry as everyone else is and let us know who did this so we can end this rather quickly." 

Northeast High School moved to remote learning for the rest of the week, and has made trauma counseling available to their students and staff as the school community navigates the tragedy.

The School District of Philadelphia made trauma counseling available to Northeast High school students and staff and at several other schools where they say students witnesses the shooting.

Police also had a presence outside Northeast High School Thursday afternoon, for the few in the building for counseling.

"We have to make sure that we support the whole community so they are shocked, they are saddened, some are still processing and don’t have the words so not only did this happen this is a continual cycle that we’ve been on with event after event,", Deputy Chief of Prevention, Intervention and Trauma, Dr. Jayme Banks, said. "Everyone has a different processing speed so we’re just making sure we uplift and make available supports as well as give them that time to process these events."

"The reality of it is that the trauma inflicted on our young children today who have been shot in the school community is significant," said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel.