Gunshots fired near Palestra

Gunshots at 33rd and Walnut streets yesterday afternoon sent a large crowd of basketball spectators into a frenzy, but no injuries were reported. At approximately 4:15 p.m., police reported hearing gunshots fired from a gray Chevrolet Lumina containing four men. According to University Police Capt. John Richardson, who was at the scene, the gunfire sounded like it came from an "automatic weapon." He added that "people started fleeing everywhere" after hearing the shots. The gunshots occurred approximately 45 minutes after the Philadelphia Public League high school boys basketball championship game at the Palestra. No arrests have yet been made in the incident, which is under investigation by the Philadelphia Police Department's Southwest Detectives bureau. Richardson said a Philadelphia Police officer "was chasing the people who she suspected of firing the shots" but was unable to catch them and eventually lost them. In the aftermath of the incident, police stopped suspicious individuals and recovered several weapons -- none of which were involved in the 33rd and Walnut shooting. The Palestra hosted the boys and girls high school basketball championship games yesterday for the first time in several years, Athletic Ticket Director Peggy Kowalski said, noting that the nearby Philadelphia Civic Center had hosted the event in recent years. Approximately 4,000 people attended the event. Although last year's boys basketball championship featured a near-riot due to a bad call, this year's game between Simon Gratz High School and Carver High School for Engineering and Science occurred without any problems, said Tony Vecchione, the University's associate athletic director for operations. He emphasized that the gunshots were heard outside the facility well after the game ended in a Grantz victory. Vecchione explained that more than 100 security and police personnel -- including 10 University Police officers, 40 Philadelphia school district police officers and 60 security guards -- were assigned to the event. In addition, security guards with metal detecting wands searched every individual that entered the Palestra, he said. "We had more than adequate security in the building," Vecchione said, adding that the University is interested in hosting the championship in the future -- although it "will make some suggestions" regarding security at the event. In an unrelated incident, a University Police officer was injured yesterday while attempting to arrest a man causing a disturbance in the Palestra yesterday afternoon at the basketball doubleheader, police said. After University Police Officer Howard Anderson tried to arrest the suspect at approximately 3 p.m., the two began fighting, and the suspect fell on top of Anderson's knee, Richardson explained. Anderson sustained a sprained and hyperextended left knee and was transported to the Presbyterian Medical Center at 39th and Market streets, where he was treated and released. The suspect was arrested and taken to the Philadelphia Police Department's Southwest Detectives Bureau, where he was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and assault against police.

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