Seven people were inside the residence when a bullet came through a living room window during an early-morning shooting.
PHILADELPHIA — A bullet tore through the window of an occupied North Philadelphia home and narrowly missed a resident early Thursday as more than 25 shots were fired outside, leaving an 18-year-old man wounded and neighbors shaken, police said.
The shooting unfolded shortly after 4 a.m. Sept. 10 on the 1500 block of Cambridge Street. Police responding to reports of gunfire found more than 25 spent shell casings across the roadway and sidewalk. Two parked vehicles and a home had been struck, but officers initially found no person suffering from a gunshot wound at the scene.
Inside the damaged home, police found five adults and two teenagers. None was injured. Investigators said one round entered through a front living room window, traveled above a resident who had been lying on a couch and then lodged in a wall. The resident was badly shaken by the close call, according to police.
The burst of gunfire startled people living nearby in what police described as a normally quiet area that has seen new residential construction. Residents interviewed after the shooting described waking to the sound of repeated gunshots and taking cover inside their homes until the shooting stopped.
The shooting also left an 18-year-old man wounded. About 30 minutes after officers first reached Cambridge Street, authorities were notified that he had been found on the nearby 1400 block of Poplar Street with a gunshot wound to his leg. He was taken to Temple University Hospital in stable condition.
The 18-year-old told investigators he had been in the Cambridge Street area and believed he was hit by stray gunfire rather than deliberately targeted. Police had not verified that account. Investigators were still working to determine why he was found only after officers had spent about a half-hour examining the original scene.
Surveillance cameras along the block captured the shooting, giving detectives several possible views of what happened. Police said video appeared to show a male in a dark sweatshirt and jeans leaving the area on foot. Investigators were also testing shell casings to determine whether the barrage came from one firearm or more than one.
The damage to the home and parked vehicles underscored how widely the gunfire spread across the residential block. Despite the number of shots fired and the seven people inside the struck home, police reported no additional injuries beyond the 18-year-old wounded nearby.
No arrest had been announced as of Friday. Police had not established a motive or determined whether the wounded man was the intended target, and detectives continued reviewing video and ballistic evidence as they worked to identify the shooter or shooters.
Author note: Last updated September 11, 2026.