August 07, 2025
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
The first arrest has been made in a deadly shootout that killed three people and injured 9 others at a block party in Grays Ferry on July 7. Terrell Frazier, 22, was taken into custody Wednesday night and authorities are searching for additional suspects.
Philadelphia police have arrested one of the alleged gunmen in the harrowing shootout that unfolded during a block party in Grays Ferry over the Fourth of July weekend. The shooting left three people dead and nine others injured.
Terrell Frazier, 22, of West Philadelphia, was taken into custody Wednesday night — nearly one month after chaos erupted on the 1500 block of South Etting Street, authorities said. The shooting broke out around 1 a.m. on July 7, the second night in a row that social media posts brought about 200 people out for a raucous block party.
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No initial confrontation provoked the frenzy of shots fired between porch fronts and the street, police said. At the crime scene, investigators found more than 140 bullets that had been fired from at least 13 guns.
"There was no argument or no opposing party," Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore said. "We believe that one individual that was amongst (the) group fired a gun. We believe it may have been in the air. That caused at least a dozen other people with firearms to then begin recklessly and really intentionally firing ... I have no idea what all of them were firing at."
Video footage from a front-door camera shows at least three gunmen firing their weapons as others duck for cover, climb on top of one another and take refuge behind the walls of two rowhomes. Vanore said Frazier was across the street from the perspective of the home with the camera. Three other suspects shown in the video remain at large, and police said they are closing in on additional arrests.
"This arrest is not the end of this investigation," Vanore said. "There's a lot of work to do."
The shooting resulted in the deaths of 23-year-old Zahir Wylie, of Overbrook, who was shot in the chest; 19-year-old Jason Reese, of Carroll Park in West Philly, who was shot in the head; and 24-year-old Azir Harris, from Sharswood in North Philly, who was shot multiple times in the back.
The nine people who were wounded — two women and seven men — ranged between 15 and 24 years old, police said. All of them have since been released from the hospital.
At the first block party, held July 5, Vanore said police were called to the area to break up the crowd. Two people were charged with assaulting police officers, and video evidence showed Frazier jumping on top of a police car. He was not charged that night.
The group that organized the first party promoted another gathering at the same location on July 6, investigators said. Vanore said the social media posts drew people from across the city.
Frazier was identified as a suspect through witness interviews, tips from the public and other digital evidence, Vanore said. A search warrant was served at his home in West Philadelphia on Wednesday night and he was taken into custody.
Investigators are still determining which people were struck by Frazier's gunfire, a process that could be lengthy due to the amount of ballistics evidence.
"I was on that block within an hour of this incident," Vanore said. "I think every parked car had a bullet in it."
Frazier is being charged with three counts of homicide, nine counts of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, conspiracy and related weapons offenses. Vanore said all of the gunmen could end up facing conspiracy charges. Although there may have been at least a dozen shooters, Vanore said authorities are investigating whether any of the gunmen might have used multiple firearms.
Police have offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to arrests and convictions in the ongoing investigation. Vanore said some of the weapons in the shooting have been recovered, but police are still searching for others. He called the shooting one of the most frightening incidents in the city in recent memory.
"I don't know if I've ever seen contagious gunfire like this," Vanore said. "You can really see that on the porch video. You don't even know where those bullets are going."
People with information about the shooting can contact the Philadelphia Police Department's Homicide Unit at (215) 686-3334, call or text the department's anonymous tipline at (215) 686-8477, or provide details using this online form.
