Cops Fire Guns To Stop Gunfire

Every year, around New Year’s, the district attorney or something trots out a kid who was injured by a stray bullet shot into the air to celebrate the New Year. And, every year, the DA tells everyone not to fire guns into the air. The citizens of Philadelphia promptly don’t listen to the teevee telling them not to shoot into the air in celebration, of course. The Inquirer reports today there were 257 incidents of gunfire at midnight reported on 911 calls.

The only way for the police to stop all the shooting, of course, was to apparently fire into a house and arrest the wrong guy. The Inky reports:

“As soon as everyone said ‘Happy New Year!,’ bullets were flying through the house,” said Clinton Rogers, 30, who lives in the 5600 block of Boyer Street, where the party turned to chaos. He said he was near the front door holding his 3-year-old daughter, Camirah, when the gunfire erupted and door fragments struck him in the face.

Within seconds, four of the guests were injured: one a 9-year-old boy grazed by a police bullet, another a 33-year-old man now in a medically induced coma. Even worse, police admitted yesterday, they arrested the wrong man and let the right man go.

Everything’s fixed up now, only the police are being represented by a lawyer who also represents the family of a man killed by police on Jan. 1 of 2007. Oh, and the dude who actually allegedly fired the gun into the air works for Philadelphia Media Holdings as a “part-time mailer.” On Domelights, the situation is more cut and dry: “F..k these animals!!!!!”

Anyway, everybody’s gonna forget about this by next year and like 500 people will be firing guns into the air next year. Who do you have to ask to get a “Guns for 76ers tickets and blanks” drive next year right before the New Year?