I guess it's officially a mass shooting, since the NYTimes covered it. To me, it's another reminder that the memories I have of growing up in this neighborhood will never be the same, thanks to guns. Via the New York Times:

A heavily armed gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire in southwest Philadelphia on Monday evening, killing four people and injuring two others, the police said.

A male suspect was taken into custody by the police just before 8:40 p.m., the authorities said, adding that they had recovered a semiautomatic rifle, a handgun and another gun in the alleyway behind the 1600 block of South Frazier Street.

The dead were all men, aged between 20 and 59, the police said. Two other victims, aged 2 and 13, were hospitalized and were stable, they said.

The usual findings will probably apply. The shooter will most likely have a history of domestic violence, and an anger management problem.

But as long as people can still walk into a store and buy AR-type rifles, we will still have mass shootings. And people trying to celebrate the 4th with family and friends will still have to stop and ask themselves, "Fireworks or gunshots?"

This one feels personal. This entire shooting happened in the neighborhood where I grew up, an area which is now crime-ridden and extremely poor.