PHILADELPHIA _ It was supposed to be a joyful day for a 23-year-old Southwest Philadelphia woman who got married Sunday and is about five months pregnant with twins.
Instead, she and her 74-year-old father were shot and wounded outside their home after her husband's jealous ex-wife saw her announcement on Facebook that she had just gotten married, a police supervisor said Monday.
Shortly before 10:30 p.m. Sunday, the ex-wife and others went to the 23-year-old woman's home on the 5800 block of Hadfield Street, police said. After the ex-wife approached the woman, "there was some type of altercation," Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detectives said at a news conference Monday afternoon.
"As that escalated, some of the males in the crowd, at least two, pulled out handguns," Walker said. "The father of the 23-year-old woman jumped in front of his daughter. Obviously, he took the brunt of the injuries."
The father was shot as many as 10 times in his upper body, Walker said. His daughter was shot in the left hip and leg.
Police did not release either victim's name or that of the ex-wife. Neighbors on the block where the father and daughter live confirmed that the father's name is Fred Waring. He was in critical condition Monday afternoon at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, while his daughter was in stable condition, Walker said.
"All too often you get a brawl, a bunch of people out there. People don't control their emotions," Walker said outside his headquarters at 55th and Pine Streets. "They get home. They get a gun. The next thing you know, they're firing a gun, and the end result is there's a lot of devastation."
He said the motive for the shooting was "jealousy."
Police believe the shooters were part of the group of people who showed up with the ex-wife. At least 17 shots were fired from two guns, Walker said. He said about 10 people or more were outside the victims' home Sunday night.
The 23-year-old woman's new husband was also out in front of the house, Walker said. He at some point had lived in the Northwest section of the city with his ex-wife, but most recently had an address in South Philadelphia, Walker said.
Walker said the woman's twins are expected to be OK. It was supposed to be a celebratory day for the woman and her husband, the father of the unborn twins, Walker said.
"Time and time again, when people just can't control their emotions and anger, but they bring a weapon into the game, it changes lives," Walker said.
On Hadfield Street, blood stained the sidewalk in front of the victims' home Monday afternoon. No one answered the door. Neighbors declined to comment or said they had moved to the block only recently and didn't know the father and daughter well.
