Last Updated on July 5, 2022
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, a Democrat, said he will “be happy when I’m not mayor and can enjoy some stuff,” after two Philadelphia Police Officers were shot during a fireworks display. The city has experienced a massive spike in crime under the leadership of Kenney and Soros-backed District Attorney Larry Krasner.
“I’m concerned every single day. There’s not an event or a day, where I don’t lay on my back at night, look at the ceiling and worry about stuff,” Kenney told reporters. “So everything we’ve had in this city, over the last seven years, I worry about. I don’t enjoy Fourth of July, I didn’t enjoy the Democratic National Convention, I did not enjoy the NFL Draft,” Kenney went on, listing events that have been held in the city under his tenure.
“I’m waiting for something bad to happen all the time. So I’ll be happy when I’m not here, when I’m not mayor and I can enjoy some stuff.”
“I’m waiting for something bad to happen all the time. So I’ll be happy when I’m not here, when I’m not mayor, and I can enjoy some stuff,” Philly Mayor Jim Kenney said. https://t.co/ZkvrGTmwKH pic.twitter.com/R9X4TIBMcR
— Matt Petrillo (@MattPetrillo) July 5, 2022
Kenney was speaking to reporters after two Philadelphia Police officers were shot during a fireworks display on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The shooting sparked a mass panic that ruined the event and caused people to flee in multiple directions.
Spectators have been making their way back to the Parkway all morning in order to retrieve items left behind after thousands of people ran in fear.
The two officers injured in the shooting — which took place not far from the Philadelphia Art Museum — were treated and released. One officer suffered a grazing wound to the forehead, which left the shooter’s bullet lodged in his hat. The other officer, a member of the Montgomery County bomb squad, was shot in the shoulder.
Investigators are still seeking to determine where the shots were fired from, how many were fired, and whether the shots were intentionally fired toward police or if the officers were struck by stray bullets. “We don’t know if this was ricochet from celebratory gunfire … whether this was intentional,” Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said.
Crowd running away from the shooting during the Parkway Fireworks#Philadelphia #Shooter pic.twitter.com/q1VanmrVzN
— Tyler Doudrick (@Doudrick) July 5, 2022
Mayor Kenney has since come under fire from multiple Democrat City Council members and State Representatives over his comments. “I think the mayor’s comments were asinine,” District 9 Councilmember Cherelle Parker said Tuesday. “I didn’t Tweet about it, post it. I picked up the telephone and I called him, and I told him that ‘If you can feel this way, imagine how Philadelphians who don’t have the ability to check out feel on a daily basis.”
None of our stress is heavier than the people who are altering their lives on a daily basis — every block, every community, every neighborhood. And they don’t want us to say, ‘We’ve thrown up our hands. We can’t do anything.’ We don’t have the luxury to do that.”
State Rep. Amen Brown said Kenney’s comments were “beyond tone deaf and a slap in the face to the families and communities that have been impacted by gun violence.” Brown later called for Kenney to resign from his post.
Kenney issued a lengthy follow-up statement on Tuesday in which he apologized for the tone of his comments. “In a late-night, overwhelming moment of frustration, I said I was looking forward to no longer being mayor. Let me be clear, I’m incredibly grateful to be mayor of this great city and for the people who elected me to lead,” Kenney’s statement read.
“I made Philadelphians feel like I don’t care, and that cannot be further from the truth. I’ve said it many times before, I lay awake at night thinking about the challenges facing the residents in our city and what more we can be doing or doing differently to solve them. Being mayor comes with a lot of restless nights, so I am looking forward to a good night’s sleep.”
Philadelphia set a record for homicides in 2021 and is on pace for more than 500 for a second straight year in 2022. The city now has the highest murder rate among America’s cities with a population north of one million.