PHILADELPHIA — A 15-year-old boy arrested by Philadelphia Police this weekend is a suspect in three shootings over the past three weeks, authorities said Monday.
Yazid West was being held on $2 million bail after police say he shot two teenage girls, ages 16 and 17, in a car near Temple University on Friday night. Capt. John Walker said West and his friends had a chance encounter with the girls, who were in a Nissan Altima, around 10 p.m. on the 1400 block of Cecil B. Moore Avenue, and when one of the girls deployed pepper spray out of the car’s window, West responded by firing eight shots at them.
One of the victims was struck in the leg, police said, the other in the back. Both were taken to Temple University Hospital in stable condition.
West and several other teens with him, meanwhile, ran away, but Walker said responding officers pursued the group and arrested West about a mile from the crime scene. Surveillance video of the incident shows West committing the shooting, Walker said. He faces charges including attempted murder, aggravated assault, and weapons violations.
In addition, Walker said West was expected to face charges in two additional shootings.
In the first, on March 5, police believe West shot a 14-year-old boy near Broad Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue in retaliation for a shooting a night earlier, an incident that left one of West’s friends injured.
The 14-year-old West shot was hospitalized in stable condition with gunshot wounds to his right side, police said. The shooting was captured on surveillance video, which Walker said depicts West as the shooter.
West has not yet been charged in that case, but Walker said an arrest warrant was pending.
In the second incident, on March 15, police believe West fired shots into a house on the 1500 block of Gratz Street. No one was struck, but Walker said investigators believe West targeted the house because the mother of a teen who lived there had stopped allowing her son to hang out with West and his friends.
Walker said West was identified by a witness in that case, and he was charged with weapons violations following his arrest this weekend.
West was being represented by the Defender Association of Philadelphia, which declined to comment Monday. Attempts to reach relatives for comment were unsuccessful.
In a city struggling with an epidemic of gun violence, it is something of a rarity for a defendant to face charges in three separate shootings. The vast majority of incidents in recent years have gone unsolved.
