At least three shot when gunfire erupts at Philadelphia Eid event, police say

At least three people were shot and injured Wednesday at an annual Eid al-Fitr event in Philadelphia, police said. The shooting occurred around 2:30 p.m., when police at the scene heard about 30 gun shots, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said at a news conference. Two groups of people started firing at each other, and people began fleeing the scene, he said.

Officers took into custody four males and a female, and four weapons were recovered at the scene, Bethel said. One suspect, a 15-year-old boy who police said had a gun, was shot by police and sustained wounds to his shoulder and leg. A man also was shot in the stomach, and another juvenile had a wound to his hand. No one was killed, police said. It was not immediately clear what caused the shooting.

Zania Weatherford, who said she has been coming to the festival for about six years, said she was in the park enjoying the celebration and had gone to her car “for a minute” when she heard 20-30 gunshots and saw people running across the street from the park. She said she stayed in her car, scared and unsure of what to do, then called relatives who were also at the event to make sure they were safe.

“Last year, someone set off firecrackers and scared everyone,” Weatherford said. “This is just a celebration of life for God to forgive us for our sins. There’s one month that God chains the devil down, so whoever did this can’t even blame the devil.”

Eid al-Fitr is an Islamic holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the month when devout Muslims fast daily from dawn to sunset. Ramadan is a time of increased worship, charity, and good deeds. Eid al-Fitr means the feast, or festival, of breaking the fast.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition