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Girl, 6, fighting for life after being hit by 1 of 21 bullets

The gunman's target Tuesday evening was a man running down an East Germantown street, police said, but his only victim was a 6-year-old girl whose life he forever altered with a single bullet - and seemingly without a second thought.

The gunman's target Tuesday evening was a man running down an East Germantown street, police said, but his only victim was a 6-year-old girl whose life he forever altered with a single bullet - and seemingly without a second thought.

The girl, hit in her chest by one of 21 bullets fired around 7 p.m. on the 6300 block of North Woodstock Street, was listed in critical but stable condition Wednesday at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, according to police.

A woman who answered the door Wednesday at the girl's home on Woodstock said the child was fighting for her life in the hospital. She declined to comment further.

Meanwhile, Northwest Detectives were working to determine the identity of the gunman and his intended target. Chief Inspector Scott Small had said at the scene Tuesday night that the 21 shell casings came from two firearms and were found in close proximity. Police were probing whether that meant two shooters or one man firing two guns.

Police released a description of one suspect Wednesday: a black man between 20 and 25 years old and between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-8, with a muscular build, a dark complexion, and facial hair, wearing a white T-shirt and jeans.

Police and neighbors said the girl, whose identity had not been released as of Wednesday afternoon, was playing on the front steps of her home with a family member when someone opened fire on a man running down the block.

A stray bullet hit the girl in her chest just under her left arm, police said. A resident of the block said the child was conscious following the shooting, but police said she was unresponsive when they arrived.

Dennis Taylor, 81, who lives on the block, said police responded quickly and impressively.

"The whole 35th District was here," he said.

Officers rushed the girl to nearby Einstein Medical Center, where doctors stabilized her before she was taken to St. Christopher's, police said.

Taylor, who has lived on the 6300 block of Woodstock since 1964 and raised three daughters there, said the block is "usually very quiet." He could not remember any previous violence in his 52 years there.

"It's just so terrible. She was just playing in front of her house," Taylor said. "I'm praying for her and her family."

Taylor said he was sitting on his front porch when he heard the barrage of gunfire and his daughter ushered him inside.

Police said they were investigating every aspect of the case, including whether a shooting early Wednesday around the corner on the 2100 block of Chelten Avenue was connected.

In that incident, a 47-year-old man who had just walked onto Chelten from Wister Street around 1:25 a.m. was shot once in a hand and once in a leg by an unknown man in an unknown vehicle, police said. He was listed in stable condition at Einstein.

farrs@phillynews.com

215-854-4225@FarFarrAway

Staff writer Robert Moran contributed to this article.