2 arrested, facing murder charges in Philadelphia shooting

PHILADELPHIA — Two men are facing murder charges and have been arrested in Virginia in the death of two bystanders in last weekend’s shooting in a busy entertainment district in Philadelphia, officials said Thursday.

The men will be extradited to face charges in Philadelphia and will not be given bail in Saturday night’s shooting on South Street, city officials said at a news conference.

Three people died overall. Two of the people killed were bystanders, authorities have said.

Joanne Pescatore, homicide unit chief at the Philadelphia district attorney’s office, said that according to surveillance video, the two men, who are friends and had fled to Virginia together, fired randomly into the crowd in response to hearing gunshots down the block. It did not appear that the men and the victims knew one another.

“It appears that they had guns, took them out and just started randomly firing,” Pescatore said.

Authorities earlier announced two arrests not connected with any of the deaths.