Bullets

WHATEVER way you frame it, a group of men with their morals in the gutter did not spare any regard for human life when they opened fire in a bowling alley early yesterday, striking one man down, according to police. About 12:30 a.m., five men were denied entry to a private party at PEP Bowl, on Broad Street near Federal, in Point Breeze, police said. A fight broke out between one of the uninvited men and a man at the party, at which point two of the uninvited guests pulled out guns and began shooting, police said.

WASHINGTON - A man with an apparent obsession with President Obama has been arrested in Western Pennsylvania after the Secret Service discovered two bullets struck the White House while the president was away, authorities said Wednesday. One bullet smashed into a window of the living quarters of the executive mansion but was stopped by ballistic glass. The arrest of Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 21, came days after reports of shots fired on Friday night near the White House while Obama and his wife, Michelle, were on a trip to California and Hawaii.

A man was found shot dead this morning on a loading dock in North Philadelphia, police said. Police said workers at the industrial building on the 2800 block of West Clearfield Street saw the man about 5 a.m. and thought he was sleeping. But when they noticed blood, they called police about 6:30. Police said the man had been shot in the head and medics pronounced him dead at the scene at 6:40 a.m. An investigation is under way. Contact the Breaking News Desk at online@phillynews.com or 215-854-2443.

IN THE hundreds of shootings I've covered as a reporter in Philadelphia, either out on the street in the aftermath of bullets or later in courtroom testimony, I never would have guessed I would one day witness a shooting myself. But yesterday at 3:52 p.m., on Ann Street near Weikel, in Port Richmond, I saw a young man, dressed all in black, raise his arm and fire three louder-than-imaginable shots down Ann Street toward Tulip with a black handgun. A crowd of about 20 at Ann and Weikel quickly fled.

Yvonne Carrington Payne and Carolyn Funches have cooked Thanksgiving dinners for the homeless, raised money for needy families, and set up a shelter for battered women. "We don't play around," said Carrington Payne, 70. "When people see us coming, they know we get things done. " Now, in what surely will be their toughest challenge, the Chester duo are taking on the gun lobby. Specifically, they want bar codes on bullets as a way of tracking killers and reducing gun violence.

Police interviewed witnesses and looked for suspects Sunday after two men were shot and another was assaulted in separate incidents at a preseason game between the Bay Area rival San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders. Following the 49ers' 17-3 victory, a man wearing a profane anti-49ers T-shirt was shot outside Candlestick Park multiple times in the stomach. He was listed in critical condition. A man wearing a Raiders jersey was found on a party bus in the parking lot and taken into custody, according to police.

GETTYSBURG - Workers cutting up a fallen tree at Gettysburg National Military Park came across some Civil War artifacts when their chain saw struck bullets buried in the trunk. The bullets were discovered last week while a crew was cutting through the oak tree on Culp's Hill, the site of intense fighting on July 2 and 3, 1863, Park Superintendent Bob Kirby said Tuesday. Two sections of the trunk were removed and will be treated to clean out insects and mold before they will be added to the park museum's collection, officials said.

A 43-year-old woman was hit by a stray bullet as she sat on a neighbor's porch Friday in North Philadelphia, police said. About 6:15 p.m. in the 2600 block of Silver Street, the woman was struck by a bullet that went through her left arm and wounded her in the chest, Chief Inspector Scott Small said. The woman was in stable condition Friday night at Temple University Hospital. - Robert Moran

He had been playing basketball in East Camden and was walking home Monday afternoon when the bullets started flying. Jorge Cartagena, a fourth grader, was struck in the eye, collapsed to the ground, and immediately called out for his mother. "Where is my son? Where is my son?" screamed his mother, Isabel, after learning from a neighbor of the 9-year-old's shooting. She rushed from her home on Marlton Avenue toward the shooting scene. She cradled him in her lap and told him "to be strong.