John Doe fatally shot in Southwest Philadelphia overnight

An unidentified man was killed in Southwest Philadelphia early this morning.

Police said the victim, whose age and identity are still unknown, was shot multiple times in the chest at the intersection of 59th Street and Elmwood Avenue shortly after midnight and died a short time later at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

The man was the 285th homicide victim this year. With two months left in 2012, his death brings the number of homicides this year so far to only 39 fewer than the total count for all of 2011. The homicide rate to date is the highest it’s been since the notoriously bloody year of 2007.