A Philadelphia police officer was shot and killed and a second officer was wounded on October 12 night when they confronted people breaking into cars at Philadelphia International Airport, police said.
A person who was brought to a hospital privately and died there may have been involved in the shooting but investigators haven’t confirmed that, interim Police Commissioner John Stanford said at a late-night news conference.
Mr. Stanford said the officers were heading to work when they saw several people breaking into a vehicle in the parking garage area.
As the officers approached, “the suspects opened fire,” hitting one officer several times in the upper body and the other in the arm, Mr. Stanford said.
One officer died shortly after 11:30 p.m. at a hospital. His name wasn’t released but he was 50 years old and had 22 years with the force, Mr. Stanford said.
The married officer had one child, Mr. Stanford said.
“They are here at the hospital, as you can imagine, heartbroken,” Mr. Stanford said.
The other officer was in stable condition. He is 60 years old and has 20 years with the police department, Mr. Stanford said. Both were assigned to the airport unit.
At about the same time, a private car took someone to the hospital where they died. That person was “very similar to the suspect description” but investigators hadn’t confirmed the person’s involvement, Mr. Stanford said.
Stanford noted that the shooting came only a week after three officers were shot and wounded while responding to a call.
“A numb, numb moment for us, to again encounter something like this,” he said. “We just had three officers shot last week. And then this tonight, so you can imagine what we feel. We can imagine what this department is going through. And quite frankly, how the city should be feeling.”
