300th homicide reached in city after 2 found fatally shot Tuesday

Two people were found fatally shot Tuesday night, raising to 300 the number of people reported slain in the city this year, authorities said.

The homicide figure will surpass that in each of the last four years, when fewer than 300 were killed.

About 11:40 p.m. Tuesday, officers found a 21-year-old man shot in the back of the head, lying facedown at American and Westmoreland Streets in North Philadelphia. He was pronounced dead there at 11:59 p.m.

The victim's mother, Atiya Wilson, identified him as Talik Monsanto. In a phone interview Wednesday, she said she heard from a friend of her son's that the friend was in a fight and that her son tried to help him when another group started shooting.

"There were multiple people beating" on her son's friend, she said. After her son tried to help his friend, "Talik unfortunately was shot in the back of the head and killed," she said. She said she did not know the reason for the fight.

"He was a good, loving child," she said. "He loved his friends. He was outgoing, a people person, affectionate."

Wilson said that her son lived with her and that they had just moved Tuesday from their home on the 5000 block of Fairhill Street in Olney to another home in West Oak Lane. He had three sisters and one brother, she said.

Homicide Capt. John Ryan said he could not immediately confirm the mother's account of Monsanto's death. He said the victim was the only person there when police arrived. No arrest was reported.

Meanwhile, police said, another man in his 20s, who was shot in his back and chest, was dropped off at 11:55 p.m. Tuesday at Temple University Hospital by a private vehicle, whose driver immediately left. Ryan said that victim was in critical condition and in surgery Wednesday. He said police did not immediately know whether the two shootings were related.

In yet another shooting, police about 9:20 p.m. Tuesday found a 32-year-old man fatally shot, lying inside an enclosed porch of his home on the 5500 block of Greenway Avenue in Kingsessing, Ryan said. The man, identified as Lavaun Steward, had been shot in his left upper back and lower left abdomen. Police had no suspect in the shooting.

Homicides in Philadelphia are up 15 percent this year compared to the same time last year, according to police statistics. The year-end number of homicides in the city exceeded 300 in each of the six years from 2007 — with a high of 391 — through 2012, when 331 were slain.

Last year, 277 people were killed; in 2015, 280 were slain; in 2014, 248; and in 2013, the city had 246 homicides.