Philadelphia police say a man who expressed hatred of police shot and wounded a sergeant in an ambush late Friday before shooting five other people, including a second police officer.
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Ed Miller, a former police officer who is now with the police force at the University of Pennsylvania, was also hurt. The officers were taken to Penn Presbyterian Hospital. Police said the woman died and the man was in critical condition.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said it all started around 11:20 p.m. when a man targeting police officers walked up to Sergeant Sylvia Young’s police auto located at 52nd and Sansom streets and opened fire on the officer.
The suspect was cornered in an alley and fatally shot by police, the commissioner said. He then grabbed a woman and used her as a human shield, shooting her in the leg, authorities said.
Mr Ross said the attacker later fired into another vehicle and seriously wounded a man and woman.
Describing the spree as “completely bizarre”, Richard Ross, the Philadelphia police commissioner, said police recovered a “rambling” note at the scene which expressed vitriol for law enforcement and named an individual probation officer. She is in stable condition at a hospital, police said. Her vest may have deflected the shot.
“I had the opportunity to be with both police officers this evening, and their families”.
Police respond after a shooting spree in West Philadelphia late September 16.
Officers will be doing their patrols in pairs in response to the attack, the commissioner said.
There was no immediate information on the gunman’s identity, but police said they don’t believe anyone else was involved at this time.
Ross said police believe only the one gunman was involved in the violent events, which he described as “completely freaky”. “This is a completely weird situation”.
According to Dave Schratwieser, the UPenn Officer is Eddie Miller, 56, a retired Philadelphia Police officer.
The shooting occurred shortly after 11:15 p.m. near 51st and Sansom streets.
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The officer shot in the alley was expected to survive and the conditions of the wounded civilians were not immediately clear. Ross said the suspect opened fire into the vehicle.
