2 Philadelphia Officers Shot 15 Times Combined in Suspected Ambush; Suspect Arrested
Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel stated that one officer sustained 12 gunshot wounds during the incident early Saturday.
Two Philadelphia police officers were critically injured after being shot a combined 15 times early Saturday while responding to a call in the western part of the city. The suspect was apprehended hiding in a tree.
One officer, a 40-year-old father of two, was shot three times, and the other, a 33-year-old father of five, was shot 12 times, according to Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel. Both officers underwent surgery at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.
The incident unfolded shortly after 12:20 a.m. when officers were dispatched to 140 North 52nd Street following a report of a man with a gun on a porch. Upon arrival approximately 30 minutes later, the officers were met with "significant gunfire" while on the porch, Bethel said.
Additional officers and a SWAT team arrived on the scene and found the injured officers. The suspect reportedly ambushed the officers by running down an alley and firing at them before additional officers engaged him. The SWAT team located the suspect in a tree and took him into custody.
Bethel expressed pride in the officers' service and asked for public support. "I am so damn proud of the men and women who serve in this department. Consistently, they go into danger, and they give their lives for this job," he said during a news conference.
The suspect, whose name has not been released, was found with two handguns and a shotgun. One of the handguns recovered belonged to one of the officers who had been shot.