2 hurt in shooting at ‘pop-up hookah lounge’ near Temple University, police say

Two people have been hospitalized, officials said, after an overnight shooting erupted at, what police called, an “unauthorized hookah lounge,’ near an off-campus housing building for Temple University.

According to Captain Timothy Stephan of the Philadelphia Police Department, the incident happened just after 3 a.m. on Monday morning, inside “a pop-up hookah lounge which is not authorized,” that was operating inside a vacant restaurant on the bottom of, what he called, an off-campus housing complex for Temple University at 10th and Diamond streets.

At the scene, he said, first responders discovered two men who had been shot — one who had been shot multiple times and another who was shot in the chest and leg.

These victims were taken to a nearby hospital where, Stephan said, they were listed in stable condition.

However, the police captain noted that the officers who responded to the shooting found a “chaotic scene,” as the pop-up hookah lounge had been the source of prior complaints earlier in the weekend.

“It was a pretty chaotic scene with a lot of individuals inside,” he told NBC10.

Temple University’s Police Department, he said, had received complaints prior to the shooting that claimed the unauthorized hookah lounge was operating out of a shuttered restaurant space from 3 to 6 a.m. since, at least, last Friday.

At the scene, he said, investigators discovered shots fired in different directions, with at least one shot having entered the lobby of the off-campus housing complex.

No arrests or suspects in this incident were immediately announced.

But, Stephan said, the building was equipped with numerous surveillance cameras that police were activity reviewing as of about 6 a.m. on Monday.

An investigation, he said, was still underway.

This is a breaking news story. It will be updated as new information becomes available.