CAMDEN — While a Camden County Police Department SUV did laps around the block, neighbors near 8th and Pine streets milled about early Saturday morning to talk about word of a shooting.
A Camden County Police Department vehicle, at far right, drives down Pine Street on Feb. 18, 2017. (Greg Adomaitis | For NJ.com)
A 26-year-old city man who lost his friend three years ago under similar circumstances was among those waiting to learn the victim’s identity.
“I’m trying to figure out if its one of my boys,” the man who did not wish to be identified said while sitting inside his car, adding that one woman filmed the overnight scene on Snapchat.
“I used to live right here,” he said, gesturing to a nondescript row home he traded in 1996 for a spot in the city’s Cramer Hill section.
Camden County law enforcement officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment made Saturday morning regarding reports of the incident. Scanner reports indicate that one person was wounded in the shooting, however this have yet to be officially confirmed.
The scene of Saturday’s shooting is blocks from the spot where 8-year-old Gabby Carter was fatally struck by a stray bullet, authorities said at the time. The shots had been fired at a man as part of an ongoing gang feud.
‘That’s dope city,’ neighbors at double shooting scene claim
Saturday’s scene, in a neighborhood saddled by Interstate 676 to the east and Broadway just to the west, is also just blocks shy of a December 2016 shooting that left 27-year-old Amir Adams dead.
The only fatal Camden City shooting reported so far this year has been the police-involved shooting of Jose A. Fernandez-Ventura, who was wounded during a domestic violence call and later died at the hospital.
For the 26-year-old Cramer Hill resident, gun violence is a fact of life here. He made mention of Christopher Mitchell, a 34-year-old city man and close friend who was gunned down at a park a block away from Saturday’s at 7th and Clinton streets.
“This ain’t no place to live,” he said when asked if he’s considered moving out of Camden, later conceding that he simply “feels comfortable” here. “S*** like this happens.”
Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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