School bus hit 8 times by bullets in Nicetown

A school bus was accidentally struck eight times by bullets Friday afternoon while gunmen were firing at least 42 shots at their intended target in the city's Nicetown section, police said.

Shortly before 4:20 p.m., police were called to 19th and Wingohocking Streets, where they found a 58-year-old man had been shot though the outside of his left ear, said Chief Inspector Scott Small. Police took the man to Einstein Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition.

A short yellow school bus was traveling east on Wingohocking when it was hit eight times by gunfire on the door side as it passed through the intersection, Small said.

Some bullets shattered windows while others tore completely through the bus itself. Two women, including the 45-year-old driver and a 27-year-old, as well as a 13-year-old girl, were on the bus, but they were not hurt.

The entire incident was recorded by a nearby surveillance camera. Four men can be seen exiting vehicle at the intersection and all of them start firing north into the intersection, Small said. The men return to the vehicle and take off.

The victim wounded in his ear told detectives he believed the shooters had targeted a man he was talking to, Small said. Detectives were looking to question that man, who fled the scene before police arrived.