Police said the shooting was unprovoked.
Advertisement
Officer Jesse Hartnett, 33, suffered a broken arm and nerve damage after being hit three times in a shootout with a man he was pursuing. Archer’s condition is unknown.
The shooter, who has been arrested, fired about 13 shots into the window of the officer’s auto, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross told reporters.
A motive for the shooting remains unclear. The assailant “just came out of nowhere and started firing …”
Police released still images from a surveillance video that shows the gunman, dressed in a white robe, walking toward the patrol auto right up to the driver’s side door.
Police said it was unclear how the suspect obtained the firearm, which was stolen from police in October 2013.
“According to him he believed that police defend laws that are contrary to the teachings of the Koran”, Commissioner Ross said Friday.
Both were taken to area hospitals.
Hartnett not only survived but managed to fire back and wound the gunman after what authorities say was an apparent attempt to execute the officer at a city intersection.
“This is absolutely one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen”, the commissioner said.
Adding to the still developing details of the case, the gun that Archer used was a stolen police officer’s service weapon that was taken from a home.
“We’ve already established why he believes he did it, and that’s probably enough”, Ross said. Valerie Holliday, Archer’s mother, described him as a devout Muslim, but told the Philadelphia Enquirer that he had been hearing voices recently and that her family had urged him to get help. “It has nothing to do with being a Muslim or following the Islamic faith”.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney praised Harnett’s bravery but urged people to draw no link between the criminal act and Islam.
Advertisement
Kenney said Friday of the shooting, “It’s awful and it does not represent the religion [Islam] in any way shape or form or any of its teachings”. “This was done by a criminal with a stolen gun”.
