Philadelphia Police Find Gun Battle, Shoot One
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Police say an officer shot and critically injured a man after a police car happened upon a gun battle in the second police-involved shooting in north Philadelphia of the weekend.
Lt. Raymond Evers says two officers were patrolling in the Olney section of the city at about 1 a.m. Sunday and saw a large crowd where residents told reporters that a baby shower had been going on.
Evers said the officers turned a corner and rolled up on a man shooting at a fleeing red sport utility vehicle. He said investigators later determined that someone in the SUV had been returning fire.
Evers said the officers got out and told the man to drop the weapon, but he turned and pointed it at officers, and one of them fired once. The 25-year-old man was hit in the head and taken to Einstein Hospital in extremely critical condition.
The SUV was later found abandoned, and police are searching for the occupants and trying to find out what sparked the gunfire.
The shooting came a little more than 24 hours after officials said two officers shot and killed an armed man in a confrontation in north Philadelphia.
In that case, Evers said, a man whose car had been stopped in the Hunting Park section of the city emerged with a gun and was shot by a district sergeant and a patrol officer (see related story). Matthew Henderson, 28, was struck three or four times and pronounced dead at the scene, he said.
(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
