Harrisburg Police: Bailey Street shooting victims were targeted

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Harrisburg police say a juvenile and adult man were the victims in Thursday’s shooting in the 1300-block of Bailey Street.

The crime scene was massive, spanning six city blocks.

“I’m not gonna indicate where or how severe necessarily their injuries are, but they are both recovering, and they are both expected to recover,” said Sgt. Kyle Gautsch, Harrisburg Police Department public information officer.

There is limited information on suspects, but police do not believe the public is in danger.

“We do feel as though that it was an isolated incident, and that the individuals that were shot, we feel as though they were targeted. So, it wasn’t something that happened at random,” Gautsch said.

As for the increased violence, Gautsch said that also may be random. He said he’s been asked several times if remote learning and restlessness from the pandemic are contributing factors to the shootings.

“In the 15 years I’ve been here, we’ve seen these fluctuations before. We’ve seen an outburst of shootings, and we’ve seen it slow down. So, I can’t necessarily draw a direct correlation between the fact that there is a health pandemic right now and these shootings are transpiring and happening,” Gautsch said.

Police may not know exactly why the violence is happening, but they can do their best to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“Just in reference to all the other incidents that happened preceding this, we are planning on having additional officers out. We are planning on having additional patrols this weekend,” Gautsch said.

While police are hitting the ground, they’re asking you to hit their anonymous tip line. Your help is crucial.

“I always say, ‘the Harrisburg police — we are only as valuable as the community that informs us and keeps us informed of what’s going on,” Gautsch said.