‘This Country Needs to Reexamine Its Conscience’: Philadelphia Mayor Goes Off After Deadly Mass Shooting in His City

After Monday’s fatal mass shooting in the Kingsessing neighborhood of Philadelphia, the city’s Mayor Jim Kenney had some strong words about gun control in America.

In a press conference about the shooting, in which five people were killed and two children were injured by a shooter wielding an AR-15 and a semiautomatic handgun, Kenney expressed his thoughts about one of many shootings that took place over the holiday weekend:

I’m frustrated and outraged that mass shootings like this continue to happen in communities across the United States. This country needs to reexamine its conscience and find out how to get guns out of dangerous people’s hands. A person walking down a city street with an AR-style rifle and shooting randomly at people while wearing a bulletproof vest with multiple magazines is a disgraceful but all too common situation in America. I was, today, at Independence Hall, where they wrote that Constitution,  and the Second Amendment was never intended to protect this.

In another interview with Philadelphia’s local CBS affiliate, Kenney went further, blaming the dealers who sell guns to people who commit shootings like this one:

The question I have is where does a person like this get an AR-15? Where does a person like this get a semiautomatic handgun? Where does a person like this buy a Kevlar vest? … We will figure out where he got those weapons, and that gun dealer or that gun show should be sued until they’re out of business. It’s just ridiculous. And I think every family member of someone who died or was injured in this incident should get together with a big law firm and take these gun dealers down.

The 40-year-old suspect Kimbrady Carriker was taken into custody and made his first court appearance on Wednesday. He was allegedly in possession of a “ghost gun,” an AR-style rifle, a 9 mm handgun, and a police scanner and was caught while wearing a ski mask and Kevlar vest. He is facing charges including murder, attempted murder, and aggravated assault.

The victims who were killed were also identified: Daujan Brown, 15; Lashyd Merritt, 20; Dymir Stanton, 29; Joseph Wamah, Jr., 31; and Ralph Moralis, 59. There is no known connection to the alleged shooter.

Watch the videos above via CBS News Philadelphia.