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Simon Gratz schools close for day of healing after student killed in shooting
Students, staff and families are mourning the loss of a 15-year-old student who was shot and killed walking to school.
PHILADELPHIA - Deadly gun violence continues to plague the city of Philadelphia and the everyday lives of its residents, and now the issue has trickled even further into the schools of innocent children.
The School District of Philadelphia says 88 of its students have been shot so far this school year, 18 of them killed and 70 others wounded.
That number increased this week after a 15-year-old student was gunned down and killed on his way to Simon Gratz High School in Nicetown on Monday.
A tragic day for the entire community as school officials say students witnessed the deadly shooting and ran into school. All Mastery schools closed Tuesday for a day of healing.
"That trauma lasts," said Scott Gordon, CEO of Mastery Simon Gratz High School. "Students are afraid to take the subway; afraid to take the bus;, worried about when they leave school. It’s a crisis."
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Gordon says just this week, their schools have been on lockdown three times; once after a shootout erupted in front of a playground.
"Things have changed in Philadelphia," he said.
Just a couple of weeks ago, another 15-year-old student was killed after he was chased down a Philadelphia street by a group of gunmen and shot at least 10 times.
And earlier this year, five teens were shot, one fatally, after an ambush shooting erupted as the students left a football scrimmage in Philadelphia.