ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Police say a shooting in Downtown Allentown on Thursday left one victim hospitalized.
It happened around 5 p.m. on Hamilton Street, between 10th and 11th streets.
“I was shocked when I heard about it,” Nickole Lutsko, who lives near the street and often walks by the area, said.
Several officers could be seen in the middle of the crime scene tape, along with a bicycle laying on the sidewalk, surrounded by evidence markers.
And outside the yellow tape, many onlookers couldn’t believe it happened on bustling Hamilton Street, with plenty of people inside businesses and apartment buildings, or right outside, walking around in broad daylight.
“Like during the day,” Lutsko said. “Like, really, come on.”
Allentown Police say officers responded to a report of a shooting at 5 p.m.
One witness who did not wish to be named tells 69 News she was right across the street looking through a window when it happened, and saw what appeared to be a young man, riding his bike up to a small group of men. She says she saw three men run away, and the young man who’d been on his bike was tussling on the ground with one man. She says she did not hear a gun go off; she just saw the young man fall to the ground.
But she says it happened on a part of the street that’s right under a surveillance camera. And if it’s working, she believes it would have picked up the interaction.
“The other person that got shot, hope they get better,” Lutsko said.
Police say the victim was taken to the hospital.
Witnesses who saw the victim laying on the ground say the ambulance responded immediately.
“I’m extremely concerned that this can happen in broad daylight, on one of the first warm days,” Jeani Garcia said.
Garcia serves as Interim Executive Director of Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley, an area nonprofit working to end gun violence. She says she rushed over to see if her group could help.
“This street has been revised to be comfortable for the community and very community friendly,” she said.
Many onlookers, watching the police at work, mentioned new data showing crime is down in Allentown in recent years and how safe they generally feel on this particular street, especially in the daylight.
There is also a police station just feet away, though it’s no longer open.
“But that says a lot,” Garcia said.
According to the coroner, officials aren’t reporting any deaths from this incident so far.
Police say there is no danger to the public at this time. But as the incident remains under investigation, they ask anyone with any information to please call Detectives at 610-437-7721 or the Police Desk at 610-437-7753 (ext. 1).
Additionally, anonymous text tips can be sent via the Tip411 App available on the Allentown Police Facebook Page or via the Allentown Police Department website.