On the early afternoon of March 23, 2024, gunfire erupted on the 1200 block of Rising Sun Avenue in North Philadelphia. Twenty-one-year-old Joshua Hester, a Black man from Philadelphia, suffered a life-threatening gunshot wound to the chest and was taken to a nearby hospital; he was pronounced dead shortly after 2 p.m. A second 21-year-old man was struck in the upper lip and transported in stable condition.

Two firearms were recovered at the scene, but no suspects have been publicly identified and no arrests have been announced. The shooting was one of twenty homicides recorded in Philadelphia during March 2024.

If anyone has information about what happened on Rising Sun Avenue that afternoon, please share it with the Philadelphia Police Department.