Philadelphia Officials Demand More Action To Reduce Gun Violence

By Special to the Capital-Star, Pennsylvania Capital-Star

July 7, 2021

Hours before state Sen. Sharif Street was to bury a close relative gunned down over the holiday weekend, the North Philadelphian official said the political will to solve gun violence was lacking because the overwhelming majority of murder victims are African Americans and other people of color.

On Tuesday, Street, D-Philadelphia, accused the Republican-controlled state Legislature of failing to reduce the surging gun violence that killed his 21-year-old cousin-in-law Salahaldin “Lala” Mahmoud among hundreds of others this year in the city.

“If they were shooting up Rittenhouse Square, it would be a different situation,” the Democratic senator said.

“If this started happening in districts and communities that were primarily — that were all white, in suburban and rural, then the legislature and everything else would change the system and react differently,” Street added. “And I think that is true.”

Street and his wife, April, were flanked by city and state officials, as well as community activists outside City Hall during a news conference over his cousin-in-law’s murder, who was one of two people killed in the West Philadelphia shooting.

Officials demanded more must be done to stem the tide of rising gun violence in Philadelphia but offered no immediate solutions or new proposals.

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