A shooting rampage Friday night, Sept. 16 that left a West Philadelphia resident and the shooter dead plus two police officers and three civilians wounded drew a strong response by Archbishop Charles Chaput.
“Combine easy access to guns with a culture that breeds resentment, self-focus, personal license and contempt for human life and the law, and what you get is what happened over the past weekend: the terrible shootings of innocent people by Nicholas Glenn and others,” the archbishop said Monday morning, Sept. 19.
The Philadelphia Police Department said Glenn, 25, was armed with a single semiautomatic handgun and several clips of ammunition when he went on a shooting spree as he walked calmly through a West Philadelphia neighborhood Friday night.
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He shot Philadelphia Police Sgt. Sylvia Young six times but she survived thanks to her bullet-proof vest. Then apparently at random Glenn shot and wounded two people in a neighborhood bar then shot a couple sitting in their car, one of whom, identified as 25-year-old Sara Salih, died from her injuries.
Pursued by numerous officers, Glenn retreated to an alley where he exchanged gunfire, wounding University of Pennsylvania security officer Eddie Miller. Glenn was killed in the exchange.
Archbishop Chaput in his statement condemned the ease with which residents can acquire guns, but pointed to deeper issues at work in such incidents of violence.
“Taking away the guns – making them far more difficult to acquire – is the easy part, but it doesn’t begin to address the deeper moral and social dysfunctions of American urban life,” the archbishop said. “Violence begins in the heart before the hand picks up a weapon. Violence is now part of the American Way from womb to tomb, and it should surprise no one when it hits home locally.”
While Miller reportedly has been released from the hospital, the other survivors of the attack remain hospitalized in stable condition.
“I ask Catholics across the archdiocese to pray in the coming days for the victims of the weekend shootings and their families, and for leaders who can bring genuine peace to our community,” Archbishop Chaput said.
The incident was one chapter of a violent weekend across Philadelphia in which there were 18 shootings, but no additional fatalities, spanning Friday afternoon to Sunday evening.
Gun violence has become no surprise to city residents in areas such as West and North Philadelphia.
According to statistics from the Philadelphia Police Department, there were 203 homicides in the city up to Sept. 17, up 8 percent from that date last year.
The department’s statistics confirm two observations from the recent weekend’s shootings: most homicides result from gunfire and some 10 times that number are injured in gun assaults in the city in a given year.
Of the 280 homicides reported in 2015, most were committed with a gun, judging by the complete statistics from 2014; 206 of the 248 homicides that year were by gunshot.
Meanwhile most of the incidents of gunfire on the city’s streets — there were 2,264 aggravated assaults from gunfire in 2015 – result in physical and psychological wounds that only the victims, their families and their neighbors will see.
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We must begin to apply the message of mercy given by Pope Francis; we must begin to love and respect each other.
The weapon used in violent crime is only mentioned when it is a gun. Does anyone really believe that we could keep guns from entering our country illegally when we cannot keep people from entering illegally? So what could gun control do except keep law abiding citizens from acquiring a gun in order to protect themselves? I love Archbishop Chaput and I believe he is a true conservative. But I only agree with the part of his statement that notes sites that violence begins in the heart and not the hand. We are living in a death culture and to blame a tool or a weapon that can also be used to save lives is a mistake and reeks of a hidden agenda. The most horrific crimes against humanity have been carried out by governments against their own disarmed populations. That is why we have a second amendment right in America. “Taking away guns- making them far more difficult to acquire might have been easy for tyrannical dictators to do in other countries. But Americans know the history and the fate of unarmed populations that were disarmed by their governments. And for that reason it would be far from easy to take away guns from law abiding citizens.
The second amendment was previously before it was amended in the 1970’s stated: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. The Militia back then were average men who would be called to fight. Hence, this was put into the Constitution.
I don’t agree that we should not be surprised. It seems that not being surprised is giving in to the mentality of violence.
I expect better from my fellow citizens of Philadelphia. If we stop expecting good things, what do we have left?