2 officers injured during shooting in East Lansdowne were dragged to safety by Upper Darby Police
EAST LANSDOWNE, Pa. (CBS) -- Two police officers shot in East Lansdowne were dragged to safety off the street by Upper Darby police using ballistic shields, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said on Wednesday.
Around 3:45 p.m., officers responded to a report of an 11-year-old being shot at a home on Lewis Avenue, near Pembroke Avenue and Baltimore Avenue.
Officers from Lansdowne, East Lansdowne and Upper Darby responded to the scene of the shooting and were immediately met by gunfire, Stollsteimer said.
Videos posted on TikTok showed officers leaning over an officer who had been shot, while gunshots can be heard in another video showing an officer taking cover behind a parked car.
"Oh my god, he got shot," the person filming says in one of the videos.
After the shooting, the home police were called to was engulfed in flames and now up to eight people are unaccounted for.
Timothy M. Bernhardt, the Superintendent of the Upper Darby Police Department, said Upper Darby officers used ballistic shields and dragged the two wounded officers away from gunfire on the street.
"I can't thank Upper Darby police officers enough for what they did to drag these two gentlemen away from the gunfire. We might be having a whole different conversation about what happened," Stollsteimer said.
Because East Lansdowne borders Upper Darby, Bernhardt said the two departments work together frequently.
Both officers who were shot are expected to be OK, Stollsteimer said. One officer was shot in the leg and the other in the arm. Both of them have more than 20 years of experience on the job.
Bernhardt said one officer was taken to the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center by an Upper Darby police vehicle and the other was taken by an ambulance.
One of the officers works for the East Lansdowne Police Department and the other works for the Lansdowne Police Department. Both have more than 20 years on the job, Stollsteimer said.
The identities of the officers have not yet been released.
"It's great that the officers who responded to the call are doing well," Stollsteimer said. "The mayor, police chief and I got to see them in the hospital. We walked through and they gave us the thumbs up, that's great news. The sad news is there might be more people inside the house who perished."
The investigation into the shooting and house fire is in its early stages.
Stollsteimer said that investigators should be able to enter the home on Thursday morning to continue their investigation as he applauded law enforcement for their swift actions during the shooting.
"They were dragged out of danger by Upper Darby police officers. Everybody in law enforcement in Delaware County works together," Stollsteimer said.