Mantua shooting leaves two men wounded

Two men, ages 18 and 20, were hospitalized after being shot in the Mantua section of West Philadelphia Thursday night, police said.

Shots were fired around 11:40 p.m. on Melon Street near 38th, leaving a 20-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his right hip and an 18-year-old man wounded in both hips and his groin, police said.

Cops took the older of the two victims to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The man would not provide police with information on who shot him or why, said Chief Inspector Scott Small. The younger victim later arrived at Presbyterian Hospital and was transferred to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

The man told police he and the 20-year-old victim were wounded in a drive by, however, the victim did not give police information on the make or model of the car — or its occupants — and said his back was turned when he was shot.

Both men were listed in stable condition early Friday morning.

A parked car was struck twice by gunfire, there were no witnesses and no ballistic evidence was found on the scene, police said.