April 03, 2026
Philadelphia District Attorney's Office/Facebook
Tone Barr, director of victim services with the Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and Assistant District Attorney Anthony Voci addressed members of the media Thursday to announce the arrest of a 17-year-old in connection to the shooting of his 3-year-old nephew.
A 17-year-old boy is in custody following the shooting of his 3-year-old nephew in South Philly this week.
Police were called at around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday to the 2100 block of 26th Street, where they found a trail of blood leading to one of the homes, officials said. The toddler was found on the second floor with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in the head.
During their search of the house, police located a gun magazine and an inoperable ghost gun stored in a shoebox, but they were unable to locate the firearm used in the shooting.
District Attorney Larry Krasner said during a news conference Thursday that the boy, who was not identified, remained in critical condition, and he urged the community to assist officials in locating the gun.
“It is outrageous that any 3-year-old would be harmed this way,” he said. “There are a lot of things that we as a community and we as parents and family members need to do, and they weren’t done here.”
The toddler's uncle, who was also not identified, was arrested and charged with a felony weapon offense, reckless endangerment, tampering of evidence and obstruction of justice. The teenager was also on juvenile supervision for a prior gun offense at the time of his arrest.
The mother of the 3-year-old was in the home at the time, but prosecutors would not reveal whether she or any other family members were cooperating with the investigation.
