A police officer in Philadelphia was shot multiple times late Thursday by an attacker who told authorities he had pledged loyalty to the Islamic State.
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They also say the man used a stolen police gun in the crime last night. Malcolm William walked up to Officer Jesse Hartnett’s marked vehicle and started shooting. Police say the shooting happened just before midnight. The suspect was treated at the hospital and later released into police custody.
The officer was struck three times in his arm, authorities say, then returned fire.
The suspect fired about a dozen times, emptying the 9mm handgun he was shooting, Ross said.
The 33-year-old officer, identified by media as Jesse Hartnett, was taken to Penn Presbyterian Hospital.
“There are too many guns on our streets”, putting both police and civilians in harm’s way, he said. “I believe that we can find ways to reduce gun violence consistent with the second amendment”, adding that he believes there exist “ways to reduce gun violence consistent with the second amendment”.
James Clarke, Philadelphia police homicide captain, told CNN the suspect said to investigators: “I follow Allah”.
The officer, according to ABC 6, was able to return fire, striking the suspect three times.
“This is absolutely one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen”, the commissioner said. Ross said the officer was expected to be OK but had “a lot of recovery ahead of him”.
A picture – one that the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper says is a still frame from surveillance video of the shooting – shows a person standing right next to the auto with his arm through the lowered driver’s-side window, close enough to be shooting someone at point-blank range.
“It’s unbelievable he’s alive”, Ross said.
Jim Kenney, in his first week as mayor of the nation’s fifth-largest city, said, called Archer’s actions “abhorrent” and “terrible” and said they have nothing to do the teachings of Islam. “Why someone would do something so absolutely evil is just beyond us”. He was out of the operating room Friday morning and was in “good spirits” and talking.
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The motive for the attack was not immediately clear, officials said.
