All across Philadelphia — from City Hall to the most dangerous blocks — Philadelphians are living with two competing realities: that there are significantly fewer shootings, and also too much blood is still being shed.

During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and the societal tumult that followed, the city was losing as many as 500 people a year to gunfire. Since then, gun violence has dropped significantly, and Philadelphia is on track to experience the fewest number of shootings in more than a decade. Even as the numbers continue to tick down, though, thousands of Philadelphians remain shrouded in grief, processing the pain of sudden, unfathomable losses.

[This story was originally published by The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up f

See Full Page