PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney on Wednesday again apologized for comments he made after the July 4 shooting near the Wawa Welcome America festival, saying he was frustrated and emotional when he made the remarks indicating he looked forward to not being mayor anymore.
He said he would not resign, as some have called for him to do, including a few rumored 2023 mayoral candidates.
At a 12:20 a.m. briefing outside Jefferson Hospital on Tuesday, less than three hours after two police officers on the Parkway were hit by bullets, Kenney said he constantly worried about big events in the city and would “be happy” when he was no longer mayor.
He came under criticism later Tuesday and released a statement apologizing and walking back his remarks. He reiterated that at the Wednesday briefing.
“What I was getting at was the collective weight of issues in our city and our nation that has brought collective trauma,” he told reporters Wednesday afternoon. “I love our city and as mayor, there’s nothing more I want than to help solve this problem and to keep our residents and visitors safe.”
Kenney said he was frustrated after the late-night incident. He had gone to the hospital to visit the officers who had been shot before holding the news briefing outside with Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw.
“Every homicide, every shooting is another piece of me torn away, and I had just left the bedside of Officer Diggs ... met his wife, his mother, his grandmother, hugged all them, and went outside, and I was just a little raw emotion.
“It was the frustration of the moment. I’m not a robot, I’m a human being,” Kenney added. “Frustration over the fact that we are expected to solve a problem when all the tools to solve the problem have been taken away by the state legislature.”
