Police said the woman was sitting outside her North Philadelphia home when gunfire erupted along the block Wednesday evening.
PHILADELPHIA — An 83-year-old woman was wounded by stray gunfire while sitting outside her North Philadelphia home Wednesday evening as dozens of shots were fired along her block, police said.
The woman was struck twice in the torso on the 2300 block of North Gratz Street and was taken to Temple University Hospital, where she was listed in stable condition. Police said she was not believed to have been involved in the violence. No other injuries were immediately reported.
The shooting unfolded near Gratz and Dauphin streets during the early evening of Sept. 30. Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said investigators recovered more than 40 spent shell casings from the area. Police said evidence indicated shots had been fired from two different weapons.
Investigators believe the woman was caught in gunfire exchanged on the block. Surveillance cameras recorded the incident, according to police, giving detectives footage of at least part of the sequence leading up to the shooting. Authorities had not publicly identified the intended target or disclosed what may have prompted the gunfire as of Thursday morning.
Police said video showed a blue sedan traveling east on Dauphin Street before stopping near Gratz Street. A man got out of the vehicle and fired north along the block, investigators said. He then returned to the sedan, which drove east on Dauphin Street toward 18th Street. Police said the blue vehicle had been reported stolen earlier Wednesday.
Officers also found another sedan on Gratz Street that had been struck multiple times by gunfire. The vehicle had jumped a curb and crashed into a utility pole, causing the pole to fall onto the car. Police said the engine was still running when officers arrived, but no one was inside.
A firearm was visible inside that vehicle, police said. Investigators were working to determine who had been driving it and what role, if any, its occupants had in the shooting. The presence of shell casings from two weapons led police to investigate whether gunfire had been exchanged between people or groups.
The shooting left investigators examining a crime scene that extended along much of the block between Dauphin and York streets. Detectives were reviewing surveillance footage from neighborhood cameras and collecting physical evidence as they worked to identify those involved.
No arrests had been announced by Thursday morning. Police said the investigation remained active as detectives continued trying to determine who exchanged gunfire, what caused the confrontation and who was being targeted when the 83-year-old woman was struck.
Author note: Last updated Oct. 1, 2026.