A man accused of ambushing a police officer and firing shots at point-blank range said he was acting in the name of Islam and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, Philadelphia authorities said Friday.
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Around 11:30 p.m., suspect Edward Archer, 30, fired a semiautomatic pistol into Officer Jesse Hartnett’s police auto near 60 and Spruce streets.
The internal memo Friday, obtained by The Associated Press, was titled “officer safety alert” and warned police to take proactive safety measures. He was in critical but stable condition, police said. Archer also pledged his allegiance to ISIS, or the Islamic state and claimed to follow Allah.
The apparent assassination attempt comes amid heightened security-and paranoia-in the United States following last month’s assault by a radicalized Muslim couple in California that killed 14 people, and the November terror attacks in Paris.
Hartnett chased Archer, who was arrested by responding officers and later confessed to the attack, saying he had carried it out “in the name of Islam”, police officials told reporters.
Commissioner Ross said Archer claimed police officers defend laws that go against the teachings of the Quran.
“It is yet another reminder that we must remain vigilant and work in collaboration with all our law enforcement partners to share information – and work with the community, as well”, Wahl said.
“This is absolutely one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen”, Ross said at a news conference early Friday.
Hartnett, bleeding heavily, got out of the squad auto drew his weapon and shot the man at least once as he fled. “I am shocked”, she said. He always wanted to be a police officer, his father said.
A woman who lived on the same block as Archer’s mother but declined to give her name said police had responded to the house on occasion but described the suspect as “pleasant”.
The gun used by Archer was stolen from an officer’s home in 2013, police said.
“I don’t know how this officer survived”, Ross said.
Federal authorities have long said such home-grown radicalism can present a particular danger, given the difficulty in detecting and tracking suspects who choose to commit acts of violence.
On Thursday, Archer was out on probation and scheduled to be sentenced Monday for careless driving, forgery and driving with a suspended or revoked license in a 2014 case.
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Jim Kenney, in his first week as mayor of the nation’s fifth-largest city, called Archer’s actions “abhorrent” and “terrible” and said they have nothing to do with the teachings of Islam. “This guy tried to execute the police officer”.
