Cops who returned fire after gunshots erupted outside of a high school football game in the suburban Philadelphia area last week likely ki...
Cops who returned fire after gunshots erupted outside of a high school football game in the suburban Philadelphia area last week likely killed an eight-year-old girl and wounded three others.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer released the preliminary findings of the investigation into Fanta Bility's death on Thursday.
Bility's sister, who was cheerleading during the game, was also shot. She is in stable condition after a bullet grazed her arm.
'Tragically, our investigation has now determined that there is a high probability that the responsive gunfire of the Sharon Hill police officers struck four victims, including the shots that killed eight-year-old Fanta Bility and wounded her sister,' Stollsteimer said in a statement.
Fanta Bility, 8, was killed on August 27 when police exchanged gunfire with an unknown shooters outside of a high school football stadium in a suburban Philadelphia town
Bility was a rising third grader who was at the game to support her older sister, who was cheerleading, and her cousin, who was playing in the game
The child from Sharon Hill, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, died at a hospital after being shot in the chest on Friday as the game between Academy Park and Pennsbury high schools ended
The chaotic scene started after multiple shots were fired from the street outside of Academy Park High School - less than five miles outside of Philadelphia - on August 27.
At least one of the shots were fired in the direction of Sharon Hill police officers, Stollsteimer said.
The officers returned fire as 200 people were fleeing during the chaotic scene. Four victims were hit in the cross fire, the district attorney said.
Fanta attended the game with her family to support her sister and cousin, who was playing in the game.
It's still unknown who fired initial shots and who was the intended target of those shots. As of Saturday afternoon, no arrests have been made, with no possible motive shared either.
The three officers, who have not been named, were placed on paid administrative leave, the Sharon Hill council said.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer (pictured) released the preliminary findings of the investigation into Fanta Bility's death on Thursday
The Sharon Hill Police Department hasn't returned media calls for comment.
An online fundraiser set up by Bility's relatives has collected more than $15,000 in only a few days.
Mohamed Bility, Fanta's uncle, said he was devastated that children can't escape the threat of gun violence.
He asked when the shootings were 'going to stop' and questioned when the authorities would 'get control of guns on the streets', saying children were never safe.
He added: 'When they go to school, they are not safe. When they go to a program on a football field they are not safe, either.'
Philadelphia - like most other major cities in the U.S. - have been plagued by crime and gun violence.
There's already been 358 homicide victims in the city so far this year, which is 16 percent more than the 308 victims at this time last year and already two more than all of 2019, according to the Philadelphia Police Department.
From January to August, there have been 2,685 reported shootings - up 17.5 percent over last year's 2,286 reported shootings, and 1,536 victims of gun violence, which include homicides and injuries.
That's 14.8 percent more than last year's 1,337 victims.
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