1 Dead Following A Pair Of Police-Involved Shootings
By Jan Carabeo and Tim Jimenez
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Some very dangerous moments for Philadelphia Police overnight when officers are forced to open fire in two separate incidents.
One of the shootings left a suspect dead.
The deadly officer-involved incident took place in Overbrook early this morning.
Police say the suspect used a van as a weapon.
Officers were attempting to pull over the man behind the wheel and instead, they say, he came at them and tried to drive over them.
Commissioner Richard Ross on whether the shooting was justified or not.
"At this point in time it's way too early. I'm not going to make that judgement one way or another. Internal affairs is investigating along with the Homicide unit."
Police are not only investigating this incident, but another officer-involved shooting across town.
The two shootings happened over the course of two hours.
The first took place in Southwest Philadelphia on the 5300 block of Grays Avenue. Police were in that area around 11 p.m. Tuesday night, when they heard shots fired.
They found a man about 40-years-old standing on a deck and shooting a gun into the air.
Lt. Raymond Evers says, "The officers are in the area and they hear multiple shots. It brings back to the rear alleyway of the 5300 block of Grays Avenue. They see a male there shooting more and they approach him and tell him to drop the weapon. That male aims and fires one shot at police, misses, and one of the officers fires two times back and shoots the male in the leg."
That man was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
"We have the male in the hospital, he is in custody. We have another male who was inside the house. He is at Southwest Detectives for questioning."
Then in Overbrook around 1 a.m., a second officer-involved shooting turned deadly.
Investigators say police in an unmarked car spotted a man who they believe was acting suspiciously.
Those officers called for a marked police car to assist.
Authorities say those marked officers tried to pull over the suspect, but he refused to get out of the car and then tried to run responding officers over.
Those officers opened fire and the suspect was hit.
He was taken to Presbyterian Hospital and pronounced dead at the hospital.
Investigators are back on the scene taking another look at the van.
It also crashed into another vehicle on Overbrook Avenue.
At this time, no word on the man's identity or the officers involved.