Killadelphia: Crime is down, or so we are told

Normally I’d have used Steve Keeley’s original post on Twitter — I refuse to call it 𝕏, the worst rebranding in history — but Lloyd Christmas’ response was so great that I had to use it.

I assume, of course, that Mr Christmas was engaging in satire. I don’t know him at all, and there are probably some on the left who would seriously take that position!

There will be some on the left, including Elizabeth Hughes, the publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer, who would see Mr Christmas’ tweet as absolutely serious reasoning, and who decided, a few years ago, that the newspaper would be an “anti-racist news organization,” ordering limitations on the Inky’s crime coverage, and who seems to have mandated that the newspaper not publish mugshots or photographs of criminals, unless, of course, the accused are white police officers.

A search of the newspaper’s website for “Etting Street,” where the murders took place, at 9:15 PM EDT turned up several stories on the shootings, all of which were dated more than a week ago, but nothing on the Philadelphia Police releasing photos of one of the suspects, nothing to help readers who might recognize the suspects, to help the police get them off the streets.

Why won’t they help? Unlike Fox 29 News, for which Mr Keeley works — and the rest of the credentialed media in the City of Brotherly Love really don’t like Fox 29’s crime coverage — readers have to actually pay for the Inquirer.

My far too expensive Philadelphia Inquirer subscription. I could use a senior citizen’s discount right about now.

For what does our $5.49 per week subscription pay? Why does America’s third oldest continuously published daily newspaper censor the news when it isn’t politically correct?

The Inquirer told us about one of the victims, Azir Harris, in Young father and paralyzed gun violence survivor among those killed in Grays Ferry shooting, family says, and columnist Helen Ubiñas added I met Azir Harris after he was paralyzed in a shooting in 2018. Gunfire early Monday claimed his life. We were told that more than 110 shots were fired in the shooting:

Dozens of young people had gathered on the 1500 block of South Etting Street on Sunday night for the second time in as many days. After friends and family had come to the area Saturday night for a memorial for four young men who had been shot and killed in recent years, people returned Sunday to continue the festivities, according to neighbors and law enforcement sources.

But suddenly, just before 1 a.m. Monday, gunfire erupted on the small block lined with rowhouses, sending teenagers and others running in a panic, diving onto porches and inside homes. Video from the scene shared online showed people piling on top of one another and taking cover — while at least six people who were armed stood up and fired their guns indiscriminately down the block toward the sound of gunfire. The video showed at least one gunman who appeared to have a switch on his gun, a device that allows a firearm to shoot at a faster rate. The gun was firing so quickly he appeared to struggle to maintain control of it.

So, at a “memorial for four young men who had been shot and killed in recent years,” at least six of the people in attendance were packing heat, and fired back at the initial shooters. That pretty much pegs the irony meter.

Lots about the shooting, and heartfelt stories about one of the victims, but somehow, some way, the newspaper isn’t at all interested in helping to solve the murders.

There was this as well:

Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson said in a statement to The Inquirer that the shooting in the early hours of the day Monday “will not define Grays Ferry, nor Philadelphia.”

“Together — with urgency, purpose, and unity — we will protect our neighbors and build safer futures for all of our communities,” said Johnson, who represents the 1500 block of South Etting Street where the shooting took place, leaving three dead and nine injured.

Johnson is a staunch gun violence prevention advocate and is the founding chair of City Council’s Special Committee on Gun Violence Prevention. He said in his statement Monday that gun violence remains a top public safety crisis and will work with the Philadelphia Police Department, District Attorney’s Office, Mayor’s office and public safety and community organizations “to ensure these tragedies stop citywide.”

It seems to me that what defines Grays Ferry is the photo included in Miss Ubiñas column, of what is believed to be Mr Harris’ wheelchair, in front of a rowhouse the owners of which have been so paranoid by crime in the neighborhood that they put themselves in jail, that they added metal bars to their front porch to protect them from thugs and thieves. I can’t be the only one who has noticed this

I don’t normally like using photos from the newspaper, but it seems to me that this one says a whole lot more than Council President Johnson’s empty words.

Crime is way down in Killadelphia, or so we are told.
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Update: Wednesday, July 16, 2025 | 9:50 AM EDT

A site search of the Inquirer’s website this morning showed no stories on the release of the surveillance photos by the Philadelphia Police.