Shooting of Jesse Hartnett

On October 26, 2020, Walter Wallace Jr., a 27-year-old African-American man, was shot by Philadelphia police officers Sean Matarazzo and Thomas Munz in Cobbs Creek, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The two officers arrived in the area to respond to a domestic dispute. When they arrived, Wallace walked out of his house carrying a knife. The two officers backed away while telling him to drop the knife shortly before they each fired several rounds at Wallace, hitting him in the shoulder and chest. He later died from his wounds in the hospital. Wallace's family stated that Wallace was having a mental health crisis. Wallace's killing gained attention after a cellphone video of the incident was posted to social media platforms, where it went viral. Protests against the killing occurred throughout Philadelphia in late October. Peaceful protests took place, as well as several protests which escalated into violence and looting, leading to arrests, injuries to police and protesters, deployment of the Pennsylvania National Guard, and a citywide curfew.

William L. Sayre High School (commonly referred to as Sayre High School) is a high school in Philadelphia. It was founded in 1949 as a middle school serving grades 7–9, becoming a high school in 2003. Sayre High School is also the home site of SHIELD (Sayre Health Initiatives Education and Leadership Development), a Sayre Health Center run enrichment program providing medical assistant training, health professions education, internship employment and scholarship opportunities for School District of Philadelphia high school students.

Haddington is a neighborhood in the West Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its borders are defined as Haverford Avenue/Girard Avenue to the north, 52nd Street to the east, Market Street to the south, and 67th Street to the most western edge of the neighborhood. It is a largely African American community of mostly two-story rowhouses with a large proportion of elderly residents and a high home-ownership rate. Near the intersection of Vine Street and 56th Street, new construction and community facilities were built in the 1970s thanks to the Haddington Leadership Organization. Haddington's Historic District is located on the 6000 blocks of Market, Ludlow, and Chestnut Streets, showcasing colonial and classical revival styles of architecture built from 1909 to 1915. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. Also listed on the National Register of Historic Places are the George L. Brooks School and Thomas Dunlap School.

60th Street station is an elevated rapid transit station on SEPTA's Market–Frankford Line, located at the intersection of 60th Street and Market Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station straggles the line between two West Philadelphia neighborhoods, Haddington to the north and Cobbs Creek. The station is also served by SEPTA bus routes 31 and 46.

The 1985 MOVE bombing was the destruction by the Philadelphia Police Department of 61 residential homes in the West Philadelphia Osage Neighborhood during a standoff and firefight. One of the residential homes was occupied by the MOVE organization. Two explosive devices were dropped by a police helicopter on a bunker-like cubicle on the roof of the house, causing a fire which the Philadelphia Fire Department subsequently let burn out of control, destroying 61 previously evacuated neighbouring houses over two city blocks, and leaving 250 people homeless. Six adults and five children in the MOVE compound died in the incident, with one adult and one child surviving. A lawsuit in federal court found that the city used excessive force and violated constitutional rights against unreasonable search and seizure.

MOVE, originally the Christian Movement for Life, is a communal organization that advocates for nature laws and natural living, founded in 1972 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, by John Africa (born Vincent Leaphart). The name, styled in all capital letters, is not an acronym. MOVE lived in a communal setting in West Philadelphia, abiding by philosophies of anarcho-primitivism. The group combined revolutionary ideology, similar to that of the Black Panthers, with work for animal rights. MOVE is particularly known for two major conflicts with the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD). In 1978, a standoff resulted in the death of one police officer and injuries to 16 officers and firefighters, as well as members of the MOVE organization. Nine members were convicted of killing the officer and each received prison sentences of 30 to 100 years. In 1985, another firefight ended when a police helicopter dropped two bombs onto the roof of the MOVE compound, a townhouse located at 6221 Osage Avenue. The resulting fire killed six MOVE members and five of their children, and destroyed 65 houses in the neighborhood.The police bombing was strongly condemned. The MOVE survivors later filed a civil suit against the City of Philadelphia and the PPD and were awarded $1.5 million in a 1996 settlement (roughly equivalent to $2.8 million in 2022). Other residents displaced by the destruction of the bombing filed a civil suit against the city and in 2005 were awarded $12.83 million (roughly equivalent to $19 million in 2022) in damages in a jury trial.

Walnut Park Plaza Hotel is a historic apartment hotel located in the Cobbs Creek neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1928, and is a nine-story, red brick building in the Classical Revival-style. The tower takes an "E" shape above the second story. The building was remodeled in 1955. The building has 224 residential units, ranging in size from 539 to 836 square feet (50 – 78 m²). Also on the property are two outbuildings that once provided access to underground storage. It has operated as a residence for senior citizens since 1963.It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

City of Conquerors is a church started by We Are More Than Conquerors Deliverance Ministries. The current building was formerly the West Philadelphia Jewish Community Center, as evidenced by the Jewish symbols on the exterior of the building at 11 South 63rd Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Cobbs Creek is a neighborhood located in the West Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, named for the creek which forms part of Philadelphia's western border. Cobbs Creek is generally bounded by Market Street to the north, Baltimore Avenue to the south, 52nd Street to the east, and the border of Upper Darby along Cobbs Creek to the West. In 1998, the Cobbs Creek Automobile Suburb Historic District was created, with Cobbs Creek Parkway, Spruce Street, 52nd Street, and Angora Street its boundaries. The District protects 1049 buildings, with Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival, and Bungalow/Craftsman architectural styles contained within the district. Philadelphia architect William Alesker, who was involved in the plans for a Trump Tower in Center City, and Evangelical minister Tony Campolo, one of Bill Clinton's spiritual advisers, lived, respectively, in the 6200 blocks of Pine and Delancey Streets back in the 1940s and 1950s. Fires from the 1985 bombing of the MOVE headquarters at 6221 Osage Avenue spread to 64 other buildings in the neighborhood. The destroyed homes were hastily rebuilt by the city, but were later condemned after years of attempted repairs to the shoddy construction.Also listed on the National Register of Historic Places are the Holmes Junior High School and Walnut Park Plaza Hotel.

63rd Street station is an elevated rapid transit station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, served by SEPTA's Market–Frankford Line trains. Located at the intersection of 63rd and Market Streets in the Haddington neighborhood of West Philadelphia, it is the westernmost stop on the line within the Philadelphia city limits. The station is also served by SEPTA bus routes 21 and 31. The station is also the northern terminus of the Cobbs Creek Trail.

St. Cyprian Catholic Church is located on the southwest corner of 63rd St. (Cobbs Creek Pkwy) and Hazel Ave. at 525 Cobbs Creek Parkway in Cobbs Creek, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

56th Street station is an elevated subway station on SEPTA's Market–Frankford Line, located at the intersection of 56th and Market Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station serves two West Philadelphia neighborhoods, Haddington to the north, and Cobbs Creek to the south. The station is also served by SEPTA bus routes 31 and G.