A Philadelphia police officer was shot while conducting a traffic stop on Wednesday night in the city's Logan neighborhood. The suspect who fired at the officer was killed in a gun battle.
It happened on the 1500 block of West Somerville Avenue around 6:45 p.m.
According to Sgt. Eric Gripp with the Philadelphia Police Department, two officers in a marked vehicle approached a Kia Optima. The officers returned to their vehicle to look up information on the three men and one woman who were inside the Kia.
Gripp said when the officers discovered three of four had outstanding warrants, they called for backup.
A total of five officers in full uniform were on the scene to assist.
As one of the officers approached the vehicle, a 24-year-old man inside produced a handgun and started firing, officials said.
"Officers ordered the right rear passenger out of the vehicle at which point an officer shouted, 'He's got a gun.' Then there was immediately a confrontation between the male with the gun and then the police," said Commissioner Danielle Outlaw during a press briefing after the shooting.
Police said the gunman fired at least twice, hitting one officer in the foot.
All five officers returned fire, killing the armed suspect. He was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at a hospital.
A weapon was recovered at the scene. It's still unknown how many shots were fired by officers.
Outlaw said the officer who was shot in the foot is hospitalized at Einstein Medical Center in stable condition.
"When I'm told or I'm briefed that our officers are being shot at, one of the first questions I asked is it a marked unit, were we in full uniform. When my answer is yes, I always sit back and go 'wow.' For someone to shoot at a police officer is very telling and it makes you wonder not only what was going on in their mind at the time, but what is it that they're trying to get away from," said Outlaw.
The three other occupants of the car, a woman and two men, were not injured. They were being questioned by police.
It's still unknown at this time what prompted the traffic stop.
"Officers don't start their day wanting to get into a shooting, wanting to get anything like this," Gripp said. "Last thing we want to do is have to take a life, and again it speaks to the level of gun violence in the city. These officers approached the car and they were fired upon almost immediately."
Two More Deadly Shootings
Following the police-involved shooting, the gun violence continued in Philadelphia claiming the lives of two 21-year-olds.Police said a 21-year-old man was shot and killed in his Jeep just after 6:30 p.m. on the 600 block of 55th Street in Cobbs Creek.
The vehicle seemed to have pushed another SUV up onto the curb.
At the same time the injured officer was arriving at Einstein Medical Center, two more shooting victims arrived from another incident.
This shooting happened around 7:15 p.m. on the 2100 block of Windrim Avenue in Germantown.
Police said a 21-year-old man died at the hospital. A 22-year-old man remains in critical condition.
Police have not identified a motive or a suspect in the deadly shootings.
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