Francesco Cali of Holy Name of Jesus church, named as victim in reported double shooting that also killed 15-year-old boy
A pregnant woman is dead and her unborn child gravely injured after being shot during an unloading ceremony of gifts from her baby shower, Philadelphia police have said.
Corporal Richard McNulty said that Francesco Cali of Holy Name of Jesus church, was shot late on Monday in the city’s Overbrook neighbourhood. Police, which are reviewing security footage from the home, did not release any details about a motive.
“I couldn’t even imagine what a person was thinking,” McNulty said. “Instead of a shower, they get it from a great place and you just take the opportunity to take a life.”
The incident is at least the 10th homicide in Philadelphia this year. McNulty said police are investigating whether the shooting was “domestic related” but added that was preliminary.
Officials from Cali’s church and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said on Tuesday that her husband Christian Cali remains hospitalized in stable condition after being shot twice. McNulty said it is unknown if he was also at the home when his wife was shot.
The shooting took place in the backyard of a four-bedroom house. A 16-year-old boy was also shot and is being treated at Albert Einstein Medical Center, police said. A family member told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the boy is named Kevin.
The street was shut down for several hours as police checked for shell casings. A neighbour told the Inquirer that she heard one gunshot and then ran to her front yard to see someone shot in the chest.
“It was disturbing,” said Jennifer Kearney, who had seen the couple in their driveway not long before the shooting. “The mom was trying to hold her baby out and everything.”
The shooting is another tragedy for a city in which nearly 150 people have been killed this year. Six of the deaths have come in a 10-day period at the beginning of August, which McNulty said is dangerous given the length of the summer and holiday weekends.