Gunman wounds at least 6 Philadelphia police; 2 others freed
A massive police presence is set up outside a house as they investigate an active shooting situation, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019, in the Nicetown neighborhood of Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Police urge people to leave the area as they investigate an active shooting situation, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019, in the Nicetown neighborhood of Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
A police officer patrols the block near a house as they investigate an active shooting situation, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019, in the Nicetown neighborhood of Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Authorities stand outside a house as they investigate an active shooting situation, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019, in the Nicetown neighborhood of Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Philadelphia police stage as they respond to an active shooting situation, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019, in the Nicetown neighborhood of Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Authorities stage as they respond to an active shooting situation, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019, in the Nicetown neighborhood of Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
PHILADELPHIA — At least one gunman opened fire on police Wednesday as they were serving a drug warrant in Philadelphia, wounding six officers and triggering a standoff that extended into the night, authorities said.
Two other officers were trapped inside the house for about five hours after the shooting broke out but were freed by a SWAT team well after darkness fell on the residential neighborhood.
None of the officers sustained life-threatening injuries and they’ve been released from the hospital, Philadelphia police Sgt. Eric Gripp said.
“It’s nothing short of a miracle that we don’t have multiple officers killed today,” said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross as officers continued their standoff with the gunman.
The shooting began around 4:30 p.m. as officers went to a home in a north Philadelphia neighborhood of brick and stone rowhomes to serve a narcotics warrant in an operation “that went awry almost immediately,” Ross said.
“I was just coming off the train and I was walking upstairs and there were people running back downstairs who said that there was someone up there shooting cops,” said Abdul Rahman Muhammad, 21, an off-duty medic. “There was just a lot of screaming and chaos.”
Many officers “had to escape through windows and doors to get (away) from a barrage of bullets,” Ross said.
Shots were still being fired three hours later, police said, and officers returned fire.
Around 9:30 p.m., police said, a SWAT team freed the two officers who had been trapped inside, along with three people that officers took into custody before the shooting as part of the drug warrant. But the gunman remained barricaded.
Police were imploring him to surrender, at one point patching in his lawyer on the phone with him to try to persuade him to give up, Ross said.
“We’re doing everything within our power to get him to come out,” Ross said, adding: “He has the highest assurance he’s not going to be harmed when he comes out.”
Temple University locked down part of its campus, and several children and staff were trapped for some time in a nearby day care.
Police tried to push crowds of onlookers and residents back from the scene. In police radio broadcasts, officers could be heard calling for backup as reports of officers getting shot poured in.
Dozens of officers on foot lined the streets. Others were in cars and some on horses.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said its agents responded to the scene to assist Philadelphia police.
President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr were briefed on the shooting, officials said.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said he was thankful that officers’ injuries weren’t life-threatening.
“I’m a little angry about someone having all that weaponry and all that firepower, but we’ll get to that another day,” Kenney said.
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Associated Press writers Ron Todt in Philadelphia, Michael Balsamo in Washington, Caleb Jones in Honolulu and Michael Rubinkam in Allentown, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
Comments
Gun control advocates, like yourself, can't argue that some stricter "gun safety" plan would have prevented this. It wouldn't. Stricter background checks wouldn't have kept the shooter from obtaining a firearm. It's already illegal for him to have the gun in his possession. There's no way to make things "super illegal" or even more illegal than they already are.
Mayor, please read the Inquirer, they'll enlighten you to the full back ground of this career thug gangster from the city of brotherly love. Oh... Mayor... this thug resided where?
Current polls show 2/3 of the country support a complete ban on semi automatic long rifles, including a plurality of Republicans. If this type of ban went into place these weapons would become a good deal more difficult to get
Folks like this felon don't crawl through loopholes, they kick down doors.
You crack me up.
Explain why this law works everywhere else?
It is important for people to feel loved and accepted by other people. People with solid connections to other people don’t indiscriminately fire guns at strangers. What if we all gave a little of self, taking notice those around us who seem isolated, and engage them?
Community is easy to take for granted. Most of us have strong family connections and healthy friendships. Most feel as though they’re part of a group, be it community, religious, or work related. But it’s increasingly easy for people on the edges to withdraw and it’s easy for us to forget them.
It’s easier to forget these people. It’s preferred to forget them. It’s highly desired to forget them. And we have to change that. Changing that requires giving up some self. That's another problem. We have become worshipers of self, and we don't want to share that self. This society has become all about me, with the I-phone, I-pad, and the love of selfies proves my point. Give a little of yourself to those who have the same social need and wants as you do.
The majority of cases, someone planning a public assassination or a mass murder will communicate his intentions to others in advance of the crime. If we engage in some way with these people, we may get the communication. We all need to feel personally responsible for acting on this information—and the authorities must be able to do something once the information gets passed along. That will only happen, when we all engage.
Rather than new laws, I believe we need a general shift in our attitude toward public violence—wherein everyone begins to assume some responsibility for containing it. I speak especially to ALL DADS.
The drug problem and the gun problem are massive public health issues. I think when you have a product that causes so much damage it should not get into the hands of those with no good reason to have them. For example, unless you have something like terminal cancer you have no good reason to have oxycontin and drug companies have a responsibility to regulate their product so that it does not get to patients inappropriately. Another example, unless you are in the army or some type of profession that requires it nobody should have weapons as described in the Reagan assault weapon ban and the companies that produce them should self regulate to assure this. However they flood the market instead, because some socialists in congress passed a bill protecting them from litigation.
It is very important to know, what you don't know.
Knowledge without wisdom is destructive. Consider trading in some "Knowledge" (intellect) for some wisdom. Wisdom gives an ability to think and act using knowledge so without wisdom knowledge is nothing.
SO why have you abandoned your Levite (adopted) heritage of welcoming the refugee?