Philadelphia Police Shooting - 3 in 4 days!

[ExCopInPhilly]

Another Philly Cop ShotLive Hourly Updates from Action News
by Corey Herman, Ray Regan
EAST OAK LANE - October 31, 2007 - Philadelphia police have identified the officer who was shot in the head Wednesday morning during a holdup. An army of officers is searching for the suspect, who remains on the loose. Dozens of schools nearby are under lockdown.

James Golden, chief of security for Philadelphia schools, told Action News that the schools under lockdown were to be dismissing as per their normal schedules. During the the lockdown, students and staff were not allowed to leave the buildings, and nobody was allowed to enter. There were no incidents or sightings of the suspect near any of the schools, according to Golden.

Authorities have identified the officer as Charles Cassidy, a veteran with 25 years on the Philadelphia police force, during a news conference shortly after 12:30 p.m.

The officer is being treated at Einstein Hospital. Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali is at the hospital meeting with the family.

The officer is married. His wife is at the hospital. He has three children. Two of them are in college, one is in high school.

Investigators plan to show a video of the shooting in the near future, according to Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson who held a news conference shortly after noon.

The suspect apparently went back to the fallen officer and took the officer's gun before fleeing the robbery scene at the Dunkin Donut store. Johnson said the officer, whose job was to patrol businesses and look out for robberies, walked in on a robbery in progress at the Dunkin Donuts at 66th and Broad.

The officer was in critical condition and rushed into emergency surgery around 11:15 a.m. He was shot in the head.

Police now say they are looking for a Ford Crown Victoria in connection with the shooting. They are searching for a black man, about 5'11" and roughly 20 years old. He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, tan khaki pants and tan or white boots. He is heavy-set according to investigators. They have now said that he has a spider tattoo on his left hand.

Police are going through the neighborhood, knocking on doors and searching through dumpsters looking for the suspect. A police helicopter is also searching above the neighborhood.

"This is a very, very sad day," Mayor John Street said after meeting with the officer's family at the hospital.

Street repeated his challenge to city, state and federal lawmakers to change the gun laws.

"There are just too many guns," said Street.

This latest shooting follows the shooting of another police officer and 3 other people in the city Tuesday night. You can find details of that incident here. Also, on Sunday, a Philadelphia police officer was wounded in a gun battle that ended up with one suspect dead. Click Here for Action News' report on that shooting.



http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?se...cal&id=5735319

Please say prayers for this and other officers who have been shot!

[Penguini66]

Originally Posted by ExCopInPhilly

Street repeated his challenge to city, state and federal lawmakers to change the gun laws.

"There are just too many guns," said Street.

Shame on him.

Police are going through the neighborhood, knocking on doors and searching through dumpsters looking for the suspect. A police helicopter is also searching above the neighborhood.

I can only hope that when they find him, he resists arrest.

[Michele]

PRAYERS SENT!
Did you know the officer shot?

[brewguy]

sorry to hear about this..

I guess Street should ban the police from carrying as well since they just provided another gun to the bad guys.

Did anyone else see this happened in a Dunkin donuts..

[ExCopInPhilly]

Originally Posted by Michele

PRAYERS SENT!
Did you know the officer shot?

Yes, I have met him before, kind of gruff older guy, but nice.

Originally Posted by Penguini66

Shame on him.


I can only hope that when they find him, he resists arrest.

I hope SWAT finds him before the rank and file, they are better at controlling themselves. Don't want some innocent LEO who is just angry to get jammed because of a scumbag.

Originally Posted by brewguy

sorry to hear about this..

I guess Street should ban the police from carrying as well since they just provided another gun to the bad guys.

Did anyone else see this happened in a Dunkin donuts..

What kind of idiot would even rob a Dunkin Donuts, that is like asking to see an LEO.

[dgg9]

Originally Posted by ExCopInPhilly

Johnson said the officer, whose job was to patrol businesses and look out for robberies, walked in on a robbery in progress at the Dunkin Donuts at 66th and Broad.

You hate to MMQB, but there is a lesson here. The LEO's assignment was specifically "to patrol businesses and look out for robberies." Yet he walked in on a robbery in progress, presumably unaware. I can only guess that he mentally went "off duty" when it was time for a coffee break.

[Penguini66]

Originally Posted by dgg9

I can only guess that he mentally went "off duty" when it was time for a coffee break.

Or, one could guess that the officer saw the robbery in progress, saw somebody's life in danger, and went in to try and stop it?
The guy's body isn't even cold yet. Lets give it a little time before we start talking about what he might have done wrong.

[dgg9]

Originally Posted by Penguini66

Or, one could guess that the officer saw the robbery in progress, saw somebody's life in danger, and went in to try and stop it?

Why not draw first? The front door is like 6 feet from the counter in this DD.

The guy's body isn't even cold yet. Lets give it a little time before we start talking about what he might have done wrong.

I'm saying all this tentatively, and with all due respect. But we shoudl be able to separate the tragedy from the tactical analysis (to the extent it's available). Yes of course we'll find out more facts as time goes on.

[ExCopInPhilly]

Supposedly, he had walked into the Dunkin Donuts to just check them, because of robberies in the area, and walked in on a robbery in progress.

[dgg9]

Originally Posted by ExCopInPhilly

Supposedly, he had walked into the Dunkin Donuts to just check them, because of robberies in the area, and walked in on a robbery in progress.

All I can say is, a little more caution might have been in order. Robberies are what he's explicitly looking for...so you'd hope there would be a game plan for detecting one and then dealing with it? Yes, I do know that nothing can be perfectly conducted. It's just a little strange, that's all.