13-Year-Old Boy Critically Injured After Being Shot Twice While Walking Into Southwest Philadelphia Store, Police Say
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Security video shows the terrifying moments when a 13-year-old boy was shot and left for dead in Southwest Philadelphia early Wednesday morning. Friends of the boy, who is now in critical condition, say he lives in a group home where kids go when they can't live with their parents.
He and two friends snuck out to grab something to eat. He tried to sneak back in, but no one answered the door. So Eyewitness News went to the group home to ask who is running the show there.
The video shows two boys running for their lives and into a 24-hour market. One of them collapses by the doorway, then struggles to pull himself in as a barrage of bullets fly toward him.
Inside, customers ducked for cover. The shooting happened just after midnight.
"We heard the gunshots and I ducked to the ground so I could get in a safe place," cashier Jeffrey Salcedo said.
Workers cleaned up the shattered glass outside the Island Supermarket on Woodland and Island Avenues in Southwest Philadelphia Wednesday afternoon. Two bullet holes were also left in the door.
"We are scared to be here because we are trying to work," one worker said said.
The 13-year-old boy was shot twice in the stomach, but investigators aren't sure if he was the intended target.
"He was never in no drama like this before," one of the victim's friends said.
Two of his friends say they all live together in a nearby group home and they snuck out for a snack. But later, they couldn't get back inside the home.
"We tried to get in but they didn't answer the door," one of the victim's friends said.
Workers at the home refused to explain how three boys got out in the middle of the night, but did release a statement Wednesday.
"We are not a secured setting and we operate in as home-like an environment as possible," the statement read. "Our residents are provided more than adequate food and resources. We utilize incentive programs to encourage our youth to make safe decisions to remain in the program."
"I didn't want him to go by himself. I know what could happen late at night," one of the victim's friends said.
Investigators are looking at surveillance video from the store in the hopes of identifying the shooter. They say the shooter was among two carloads of men who pulled up to the scene and spilled out onto the street moments before the shooting.
Neighbors say they see kids sneaking out of the group home all the time. It's overseen by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.