The Shooting on Mole Street

Directed by Mosco Boucault

90 minutes / Color
English; French / English subtitles
Closed Captioned
Release: 2024
Copyright: 1998

On March 1, 1996, 15-year-old Shafeeq Murrel was killed on the street in South Philadelphia — innocently caught in the crossfire between rival pairs of crack dealers out for revenge. Shafeeq’s murder was one of 435 in Philadelphia that year, and it was soon shelved as a cold case. Then, detectives David Baker and Julie Hill took it on— two middle-aged white cops working a Black neighborhood in their battered Plymouth Gran Fury.

Filmed like a taut police procedural, THE SHOOTING ON MOLE STREET chronicles the investigation, as Baker and Hill knock on doors, shake down dealers, and beg, threaten and cajole residents in an effort to get someone — anyone — to talk. Baker rejects any accusation of police racism in the unsolved murders of young Black men. Isn’t he out here trying to close the case? But racism is more complicated than intent.

Part of Mosco Boucault’s “Police Investigations” series, THE SHOOTING ON MOLE STREET is a gripping documentary that follows Hill and Baker verité style, while capturing the complex dynamics of a community where selling drugs is seen as the only option for many young men.

Other Ways to Watch

Individuals

Available online from:

Colleges, Universities, Government Agencies, Hospitals, and Corporations

Purchase DVD for $348.00

Select Accolades

  • International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) 1998

RELATED TITLES

An unflinching look at the brutal methods used by the Abidjan police chief to investigate the murder of a police officer.

Mosco Boucault | 2024 | 86 minutes | Color | French | English subtitles

Cops in Roubaix, France deal with ordinary and not-so ordinary business while trying to solve a murder.

Mosco Boucault | 2024 | 87 minutes | Color | French | English subtitles

Too controversial to be shown on French TV when first released, this is the story of Eastern Europeans, mostly Jews, who fought the German occupation of Paris during World War II.

Mosco Boucault | 2024 | 71 minutes | Color | French | English subtitles