One dead, three injured in on-campus shootings

A College senior was among those injured in the shootings, which occurred after a basketball tournament at the Palestra. and Maureen Tkacik One person was killed and three others -- including a University student -- were wounded in related on- campus shootings following the Philadelphia Public League high school boys basketball championship yesterday afternoon. The incidents all occurred on 33rd Street north of the Palestra at about 4:10 p.m. Witnesses described hearing a series of gunshots that sounded like "fireworks" shortly after the tournament ended and throngs of fans began leaving the building and filling the street. According to witnesses and police, the incidents were the result of a drive-by shooting in which a suspect inside a car fired an automatic or semi-automatic gun at least 15 times before fleeing west on Walnut Street. Several police officers at the scene said that they suspect the shootings were related to a fistfight between two fans inside the building during halftime of the game. After the shootings, police stopped at least four people for possessing weapons. It is unclear if any of the people questioned were directly related to the incidents, or whether they were arrested as suspects. A 22-year-old man was pronounced dead at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania after being shot in the back, according to HUP and University Police officials. A HUP spokesperson refused to release the victim's name. The Penn student wounded in the shooting, College senior John La Bombard, is being treated for a gunshot wound to his left leg and remained hospitalized in stable condition as of 12:45 a.m. today, according to a spokesperson for Allegheny University Hospitals-Hahnemann in Center City. La Bombard, 21, was working on a project for a Design of the Environment class inside the Blauhaus -- the blue, shed-like Fine Arts building at 33rd and Chestnut streets -- when a stray gunshot went right through the wooden wall and hit him in the left leg, police and witnesses said. A woman who was taken to HUP after being shot in the elbow remained in fair condition as of last night. Her name and age were not immediately available. According to witnesses, the woman was also an innocent bystander. The fourth victim, a 19-year-old West Philadelphia man, was treated in the emergency room of Jefferson University Hospital in Center City after receiving what a hospital spokesperson called a "small gunshot wound to the back." The spokesperson would not identify the victim, who was released at about 7:30 p.m. The basketball championship, which attracted about 3,700 spectators, has been the scene of numerous security problems in the past. Yesterday's shootings raise doubts as to whether Penn will continue to host the tournament. University spokesperson Ken Wildes said the University has not yet decided whether it will host the event next year. This is the tournament's second consecutive year at the Palestra. Before that, the championship was held for several years at the nearby Civic Center. Last year, gunfire following the game sent people "fleeing everywhere," University Police Capt. John Richardson said at the time. No one was injured in the incident. At yesterday's and last year's games, security was tight in and around the Palestra. Ten University Police officers, 40 officers from the School District of Philadelphia and 60 security guards were on hand. An additional six to eight Philadelphia Police vehicles were patrolling outside, and all fans had to pass through metal detectors. Detectives from the Philadelphia Homicide unit are investigating yesterday's incidents. Information on the specific shootings was not immediately available, but a Homicide detective said yesterday that the unit was in the midst of interviewing "about 60 witnesses" in an effort to "piece together" the sequence of events. Franklin Learning Center student Arkeda Hall, 14, who attended the game, in which Benjamin Franklin High School defeated Franklin Learning Center 61-56 to clinch the championship, said she believed the gunshots were related to a fight that broke out inside the Palestra at about 3 p.m. during halftime. Hall said a small boy received cuts when he was "trampled" during the altercation. Shortly afterward, police at the event told the individuals who were fighting to leave the Palestra, witnesses said. Wharton senior Erica Meyers, who was inside the Blauhaus at the time of the shooting, described the scene as one of "chaos and confusion" after the shots rang out. She said she heard "a couple of shots really quickly," followed a few seconds later by "a succession of maybe 10 or 12 shots." Police arriving at the scene told the students in the Blauhaus to move to a windowless room in the back of the building so they wouldn't be hit by stray bullets, several witnesses said. University Police officials were not immediately available to comment on what happened inside the Blauhaus. Daily Pennsylvanian staff writers Ben Geldon and Shirley Zilberstein contributed to this article.

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