Wilmington appeared to set a new record for the number of people shot in a year over the weekend, and it's still September.

Two men were shot in a single incident Saturday and one was hit Sunday, tying and then breaking by one the record of 154 shooting victims set in 2013.

A Wilmington police spokesperson did not return calls and emails requesting comment on Monday.

Two men, a 35-year-old and a 44-year-old, were on a corner in the 1100 block of Beech Street around 7:35 p.m. Saturday when they were hit in the right ankle and right foot, respectively, police said in a news release issued Sunday.

They were taken to St. Francis Hospital. No suspect was captured.

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Just before 5 p.m. Sunday, police met with a 26-year-old man at Wilmington Hospital who had arrived there with a gunshot wound to his torso and later needed surgery.

Police said they did not know where this shooting happened. The city's gunfire tracking system, Shot Spotter, did not notify police of the incident.

If he dies — or when the next fatal shooting occurs — 2017 will tie the record for shooting death victims. That record, 26, was set in 2015.

The New Journal has been tracking Wilmington shootings since 2011. The record is based on the number of shooting victims. A previous police chief recalled a year before 2011 with more shootings, but no details were released and the paper could not confirm his claim.

The Rev. Sandra Ben, pastor at Praying Ground Community Church on East 22nd Street in Wilmington, is an advocate for peace on the streets who often walks with friends and police through neighborhoods to show solidarity and support. She learned Monday about the record being broken.

"That's sad. We have to change the mindset of our young people," Ben said. "And more people are starting to realize we need to make a change."

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Wilmington's well-earned reputation for gun violence is most glaring in its young shooters and young victims. This month, The News Journal published a yearlong project that showed young people in Wilmington are twice as likely to be involved in gun violence than anywhere else in America.

The per capita data in Wilmington showed that roughly 3 out of every 1,000 adolescents are injured or killed every year from gun violence. Sixty-four kids were shot in Wilmington between January 2015 and Labor Day. Five died and police made 16 arrests.

During the first seven months of this year, a third of the shooting victims under age 21 were linked to gang rivalry, according to a News Journal analysis.

There were 119 shootings and 21 shooting deaths by this date in 2013 and 2015, respectively.

The average age for shooting victims since 2011 is about 27 years old.

But unlike previous years, where the average age of victims had been going down, so far this year the shooting victims' average age is 28.

The city's new police chief, Robert Tracy, has pledged to turn around the violence by targeting known perpetrators and by taking a data-heavy approach to policing.

He's promised to bring back community policing by encouraging officers to spend less time waiting for service calls and more hours walking the streets, learning who residents are and addressing their needs with a personal touch.

He said the work has started and just needs time to take hold.

"We are just scratching the surface. This is a just a start," Tracy said at a community meeting in July.

Ben said Tracy has been supportive of her ministry and her walks. She said she's been seeing slow change over time and thinks more community policing will improve lives in Wilmington.

In the meantime, she said she'll continue to walk the neighborhoods and serve as best she can.

"It's not going to stop the killing, but it shows that people do care and people are trying to make a difference," Ben said.

Contact Adam Duvernay at aduvernay@delawareonline.com or (302) 319-1855 or @DuvinDE.