Episode 7: Detective Mode
Philly Under Fire
Less than half of the murderers who committed crimes in Philadelphia in 2020 were brought to justice. There are Instagram and YouTube accounts dedicated to unsolved murders in Philadelphia. The mothers of the victims are fed the hell up and they have taken to the streets to solve the murders on their own. They’ve had no choice but to switch into detective mode.
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Episode 6: The Golden Hour
Philly Under Fire
The hours and days after a shooting are often called the golden hour for survivors of gun violence and for their families. This is a time when support, outreach and services can redirect anger and potentially stop a retaliatory shooting.
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Episode 5: Killadelphia
Philly Under Fire
One of the quotes that stayed with us the most while reporting Philly Under Fire came from Melany Nelson of Northwest Victim Services. “I've spoken to many youth and they said to me, ‘Ms. Nelson, either you're going to be the predator or the prey. So you have to pick one.’ So nine times out of 10, they're going to be the predator. They told me that they expect to die young.”
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Episode 4: A Fresh 24
Philly Under Fire
A recent Temple study found that gun violence surged as the Covid-19 pandemic worsened poverty, unemployment, and structural racism. Poverty and a lack of jobs leads to desperation; desperation can lead to gun violence.
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Episode 3: Get in Front of the Beef
Philly Under Fire
So, are there any proven solutions to gun violence? In this episode, Jo introduces listeners to organizations in Philly and elsewhere—Chicago, Oakland—that have made meaningful progress even if it isn’t easy. Underlying these programs are strategies like using data to identify who’s most likely to be shot—and to shoot; talking to shooters; mediating and de-escalating “beefs” before they get too hot.
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Episode 2: The Other Epidemic
Philly Under Fire
On an average night Penn Presbyterian trauma nurse Rhonda Browning will see one or two shooting victims, usually young black men who are getting younger and younger each year.
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Episode 1: Roadmap to Nowhere
Philly Under Fire
Philly experienced a surge in gun violence in 2020, with 499 of our fellow residents killed and another 2,200 shot.
info_outlineOn an average night Penn Presbyterian trauma nurse Rhonda Browning will see one or two shooting victims, usually young black men who are getting younger and younger each year.
When Browning began working as a trauma nurse nearly twenty years ago the shooting victims were adults in their twenties and thirties and now they’re mostly teenagers. A lot of them are still in braces and the first thing they all do is ask for their mom.
A single mother of five boys, Browning becomes a de facto parent to countless teenagers in her trauma bay, until their real family arrives. She holds their hands and whispers in their ear that they need to hold on. Browning recorded an audio diary for Philly Under Fire as she tried to save the life of one gunshot victim. As someone who bears witness to the effects of violence nearly every night, Browning has her own scars and wonders how she can help to solve this epidemic. Because make no mistake, the explosion of gun violence in Philadelphia in 2020 was absolutely a public health crisis.
As our reporting makes clear in this episode, calling out the crisis as a public health issue only gets cities so far—to really move the needle, we need the kind of urgency that accompanies an epidemic, the kind we have seen mobilized for COVID-19 this year. We need more data, a sustained investment in programs with proven effectiveness and a true willingness from city officials to regularly bring all stakeholders to the table and cooperate across agencies.