Altercation leads to shooting outside of day care; man critically injured

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- An altercation turned shooting is now being investigated outside of a day care center in Philadelphia's Bridesburg neighborhood.

New Achievers Academy Early Childhood Education Center sits on the corner of Almond and Orthodox Streets.

It appears a graduation at the day care was underway at the time.

Sources tell Action News two men and a woman were out there with kids. That's when a physical altercation broke out between the two men, and shots were fired.

"Sounded like a couple kids were firing off some firecrackers, then the next thing I know the neighborhood was being swarmed by police and an ambulance," explained Billy Shapiro.

Those shots brought Shapiro, who lives nearby, outside, but at first, he didn't know it was a shooting.

SEE ALSO | Pregnant woman assaulted by another parent during kindergarten graduation at Philadelphia school

"I came down the street to investigate what was going on for myself. I found a fight and someone pulled a gun out and started shooting," Shapiro said.

This is the second fight to break out this week involving a graduation ceremony.

On Monday, in Germantown at Master John Wister Elementary's kindergarten graduation, there was a dispute over a seating arrangement between two women that quickly escalated.

Police said at one point, a 31-year-old pregnant woman had her head slammed into the wall, and the attacker left the scene.

Sources said the man injured in Bridesburg was shot several times and is in critical condition.

No children were hurt during the incident.