Philadelphia’s Gun Violence Down, but fear remains among youth

By Zahiya Daniels, Kayla Nguyen, Ericka Otero and Natalie Spina

Youthcast Media Group®

Beautiful Tashya Vinson, an 11th grader at the Philadelphia High School for Girls, has lived in the shadow of gun violence since her brother’s murder in 2021. 

Beautiful Vinson (Courtesy of Vinson).

Jabree Oliphant was 18 when he was shot and killed. Oliphant had just returned home from his job at a nearby Target and decided to walk to a neighborhood corner store. Shortly after he left, his mother heard gunshots. She called his cell phone, then walked to the corner where she found his body, and the phone “still ringing.’’ 

After Jabree’s death, Beautiful stopped staying out past curfew. Now, she rushes home to her Southwest Philly neighborhood before the streetlights come on, partly to honor her grandma’s fear and her own sad awareness of what awaits her and many young people on the streets of Philly. Fear, Beautiful says, is her constant companion. 

“When my brother got killed, it opened my eyes,” she said. “I’m not dealing with this. I’m not putting myself in those dangerous activities.”

For Beautiful, talking about her brother and how she's coping brings a small sense of comfort. Yet her story reflects a harsh reality in Philadelphia, where many young people say that they feel that growing up means learning to live with fear. 

“Everybody knows somebody with a gun; everybody does,’’ said Ashton Coleman-Williams, an 11th grader at Philadelphia’s High School for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA).  “Whether it's licensed, (or)  it's not licensed. I feel like that's normalized.’’

Ashton Coleman-Williams (Courtesy of Coleman-Williams).

This fear described by youth like Ashton lingers even though recent statistics from the Philadelphia Controller’s Office show a steady drop in gun violence. In 2024 so far, the city has reported 193 homicides—a 40% decrease from 2023—following a 23% drop the previous year and a further 6% decrease from 2021 to 2022. Still, gun violence remains the leading cause of death for children and teens across the country, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In a Youthcast Media Group survey of 83 teens and young adults across the country, 70% said that they think about gun violence or the threat of gun violence some, a lot, or all of the time. 

These competing realities may help explain why young Philadelphians say they still feel unsafe navigating adolescence in a city that also requires unspoken survival codes to avoid becoming another tragic statistic.  “It's awful that kids have to be scared for their lives and not know if they're going to make it to 18,” said Beautiful.

In fact, the fear among teens appears more potent than statistics, overshadowing the efforts of many community organizations to help calm concerns.

James Aye (Courtesy of Aye).

“There's young people who won't go two blocks from their house because they fear something happening to them,’’ said James Aye, Co-Founder of YEAH Philly, a West Philadelphia nonprofit that creates safe hangout spaces for teens and young adults, ages 15 to 24.  “There's young people who-- you get your first job, your first paycheck, you're buying a gun because you fear something might happen to you. It limits young people's opportunities.’’ 

While the threat of gun violence seems to loom large in the minds of young Philadelphians across the city, actual shootings tend to cluster in just a handful of neighborhoods, according to Philadelphia City Controller Christy Brady’s 2024 Mapping Philadelphia Gun Violence Crisis report. These neighborhoods, mostly in North Philadelphia, including Kensington, Juniata and Hunting Park-Fairhill, account for a large proportion of shootings, according to the report. 

Kensington, Allegheny, and Cecil B. Moore are among the neighborhoods many young Philadelphians say they avoid daily. 

"You're not trying to watch the news as much because it can be very depressing, but it still gives you insight," said Ashton, the CAPA 11th grader. "Don't go down Cecil B. Moore, y'all. Stay away from Cecil B. Moore." Despite it being around the Temple University campus, he says that areas like Cecil B. Moore have become hotspots for violence. His words reflect a widespread concern among youth, who, though not always directly involved in gun violence, constantly navigate a climate of fear that informs their daily choices.

Perrie Abad (Courtesy of Abad).

Perrie Abad, also a student at CAPA, says the threat is always present. "It can always be in the back of anybody’s mind," she said.

Perrie believes that stronger conversations and stricter gun laws, as well as addressing gun violence at an early age are key to prevention. Too many youth have access to guns, she says, and don’t take them seriously.

“A lot of people use guns to make it seem like they’re strong or something like that,” she said. 

In the Youthcast Media Group survey, nearly 45% of youth respondents said that stricter gun laws and reducing the number of guns circulating would make the biggest difference in reducing gun violence. Nearly all the youth said that the problem could be fixed, but many agreed it would take a lot of work. 

“There needs to be a complete overhaul of all guns in the country and make guns less accessible, and have much more mental health care in schools and communities,” said one 17-year-old respondent. 

Efforts to change the narrative around gun violence in Philly are ongoing, with organizations like YEAH Philly aiming to shift the focus from violence to healing and growth. 

“We're not a violence prevention program; we're a harm reduction program,” said YEAH Philly’s Aye. “We believe that America’s built on violence that will never stop,” This perspective reflects the belief that gun violence in Philadelphia is part of a larger, national issue, one that reaches beyond city borders and calls for a broader examination of systemic influences.

Vanessa Nguyen, who has worked with students in Pennsylvania and now lives in Philadelphia, echoes this sentiment, and says she’s witnessed firsthand how gun violence has left an indelible mark on her students' lives. She says that the fear Philly youth live with is part of a much wider crisis. “I don’t think that’s on Philly. It’s a lot on America and our political climate” that ‘normalizes’” gun violence, she said. 

Nguyen said solving the issue is complex, but her students give her hope. 

“They really call out injustices, which I’m so proud of when I see my students do it,” she said. “The youth of America are starting to shed light on it… and they’re starting to fight back, and we’re starting to get a lot more representatives and politicians to actually back that sentiment.” 

Change will take time, though, and while daily shootings are still a reality for Philly youth, organizations like YEAH Philly are working to help young people envision a life beyond violence and fear by creating opportunities for them to experience joy and build self-worth and offering training in trades like automotive work and carpentry. 

Though fear can feel constant, Vinson said she is determined not to let it conquer her. “I truly believe we're gonna improve as a community and love each other again,’’ she said. “I want to raise my kids here. I want them to know the roots of where I come from.” 

Natalie Spina and Kayla Nguyen are juniors at Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA), Ericka Otero is a senior at CAPA, and Zahiya Daniels is a junior at Philadelphia High School for Girls. They worked with Youthcast Media Group mentor Nichole Christian in reporting and writing this story.