Four injured as revelers, police fire shots

[larrymeyer]

http://www.examiner.com/a-1133429~Fo...ire_shots.html

Four injured as revelers, police fire shots
Filed under: PHILADELPHIA , New Year Gunfire


Police say four people are being treated for wounds from gunfire between revelers and Philadelphia police as the New Year arrived.

Police Lt. Frank Vanore says a man pointed a handgun at police responding to a report of gunfire at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday in the East Germantown section.

Vanore says an officer fired and missed the man but bullets struck two other men and a 9-year-old boy. He says two men were hospitalized, one in critical condition with a wound to the face. The boy was treated for a graze wound to the back.

Vanore says other officers heard shots in an alley and found three men reloading guns. He says an officer fired as the three fled and one turned on the officers. He suffered a minor ankle wound. The gun-wielding revelers are facing aggravated assault and weapons charges.

[Pa. Patriot]

Wow, train wreck.

I know it's hard to take the media version of the story with any degree of accuracy, but the cops missing and hitting the bystander/kid?

Great job Phila PD!

[jsb889]

Excellect evidence of the handgun expertise by our everyday cops. They're supposed to be better than civilians with guns, right? I feel really bad for everyone involved, especially the kid. A real shitstorm.

This is why I don't shoot anything on new years.

[stopphillysmrdrrate]

haha you guys are very misinformed this is why leo's get a bad rep. This guy was shooting at cops while fleeing into a house would you like the cops to catch the bullets with their baseball gloves instead??? wow I thought I was on a pro gun website?! cops should and will defend themsleves with every means necessary!..especially in the murder capital of the country

[bdevil73]

haha you guys are very misinformed this is why leo's get a bad rep. This guy was shooting at cops while fleeing into a house would you like the cops to catch the bullets with their baseball gloves instead??? wow I thought I was on a pro gun website?! cops should and will defend themsleves with every means necessary!..especially in the murder capital of the country

I don't think anyone is questioning the LEO's right or decision to return fire in self defense. I believe the comments are directed more towards the anti's beliefs/arguments that only cops should have or are qualified to use firearms.

[Pa. Patriot]

haha you guys are very misinformed this is why leo's get a bad rep. This guy was shooting at cops while fleeing into a house would you like the cops to catch the bullets with their baseball gloves instead??? wow I thought I was on a pro gun website?! cops should and will defend themsleves with every means necessary!..especially in the murder capital of the country

straw man argument.
No one wants cops to get shot so your question is invalid.

Despite that, I repeat that's why I stated the article does not give enough info.
The article does not say "This guy was shooting at cops while fleeing into a house", as you claim.
It says he allegedly pointed a gun...

Regardless, of what prompted the officers to return fire, the lack of fire discipline and wounding of innocents behind the intended target IS a real problem, regardless of the facts of the article.

[larrymeyer]

straw man argument.
No one wants cops to get shot so your question is invalid.

Despite that, I repeat that's why I stated the article does not give enough info.
The article does not say "This guy was shooting at cops while fleeing into a house", as you claim.
It says he allegedly pointed a gun...

Regardless, of what prompted the officers to return fire, the lack of fire discipline and wounding of innocents behind the intended target IS a real problem, regardless of the facts of the article.

I agree no wear in the article does it say the police were even fired on the original man pointed a gun that was where the boy and bystanders were shot. I understand Philly Leo's are jumpier now with them being targets. But I was always taught to be sure of you target before you pull the trigger. It sound like this officer just opened up without being sure of the backstop. He's lucky no one was killed.

As for the second officer he was in the right as he already heard gun shots his assumption would be the three men were shooting at him.

No matter what its an unfortunate incident.

[ExCopInPhilly]

haha you guys are very misinformed this is why leo's get a bad rep. This guy was shooting at cops while fleeing into a house would you like the cops to catch the bullets with their baseball gloves instead??? wow I thought I was on a pro gun website?! cops should and will defend themsleves with every means necessary!..especially in the murder capital of the country

Actually here is the follow up to it. Be careful when you come on here trying to berate good people with half truths and opinions. We like facts

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news...ng_arrest.html


Phila. police: We erred in New Year's shooting arrest
By Barbara Boyer

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Authorities admitted today that they arrested the wrong man in a police shooting at an East Germantown rowhouse early New Year's Day that left three bystanders - one of them a 9-year-old boy - as well as the gunman wounded.
One of the victims remains in critical condition in a medically induced coma, police said. The 9-year-old was grazed by an officer's bullet, police said.

Police said that they arrested another suspect Tuesday night and that they would drop all charges against the man initially charged, said Lt. Frank Vanore, department spokesman.

In all, five people were shot by police during New Year's celebrations in two unrelated reports of guns being fired at midnight. In addition to the East Germantown incident, an officer shot a Hunting Park man in the ankle after the suspect allegedly pointed his gun at police.

The chaos began at midnight, early in the new year, when two 14th District patrol officers in East Germantown heard a radio call reporting gunfire in the 5600 block of Boyer Street, the same block they were patrolling, and saw a man shooting a .45-caliber handgun in the air, Vanore said.

As the officers pulled up, Vanore said, they ordered him to drop the weapon. The gunman pointed at the officers, police said, and fled into a nearby house, where a family was hosting a New Year's party.

One officer fired 11 shots, Vanore said, striking the three victims. Vanore did not release the name of the officer who fired his gun. That officer has been placed on administrative leave, which is routine in such cases, police said.

Steve Walker, 38, who also lives on Boyer Street, was charged with weapons violations and endangering others. But as detectives continued their investigation yesterday, they said officers arrested the wrong person, Vanore said.

"It's obvious there was confusion out there and there were circumstances that led them to Walker," Vanore said, adding that Walker fit the description of the man who had been seen firing the gun.

Yesterday, witnesses identified Dontate Mitchell, 21, of East Price Street, as the gunman. He had been at the party earlier and ran back through the rowhouse at the same time the shooting erupted, Vanore said.

Mitchell, who works as a part-time mailer for Philadelphia Media Holdings (which owns The Inquirer and Daily News), is charged with firearms violations and endangering the welfare of others.

Mitchell was wounded by police during the gunfire. Vanore said Mitchell was treating himself for a gunshot wound instead of going to a hospital.

The incident remains under investigation by Internal Affairs investigators.

[thirtyonebravo]

more details in the Philly Inquirer story (more toward the end) here too:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local..._arrives_.html

Four shot by police as 2008 arrives

The two incidents began with illegal firing into the air.

By Jennifer Lin
Inquirer Staff Writer

Four people, including a 9-year-old boy, were injured in two confrontations between police and revelers firing guns into the air after midnight yesterday morning, police said.

Police were patrolling in the East Germantown section when they responded to a report of gunshots at 12:01 a.m. in the 5600 block of Boyer Street.

They came upon a man firing a 45-caliber semiautomatic handgun into the air, said Lt. Frank Vanore, a spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Department.

Vanore said Steven Walker, 38, pointed his gun at the officers while attempting to retreat into a home.

Vanore said an officer fired his gun "several times" and missed Walker, but struck two men and a boy who were inside the house. The boy was grazed in the back by a bullet. He was treated at Albert Einstein Medical Center.

A 33-year-old man was shot in the face and listed in critical condition at Einstein, Vanore said. The other victim - a 32-year-old man who was shot in the arm and side - was reported in stable condition at the same hospital.

Vanore said Walker was arrested on charges of aggravated assault and a weapons offense. No gun was recovered.

Vanore said the department's internal affairs division and Northwest Detectives were investigating.

In a second incident, in the 900 block of West Butler Street in the Hunting Park section, police with the department's SWAT team heard gunshots at 12:12 a.m. coming from an alley.

Vanore said they came upon three men reloading their firearms. He said the men scattered when approached by the officers.

One man who ran into a house - 22-year-old Wayne Bryant - was arrested without incident, Vanore said.

But as 23-year-old Joseph Farris tried to run away, he turned on the second officer, Vanore said.

"The officer discharges at him and strikes him one time in the ankle," Vanore said.

The lieutenant said that the ankle injury was minor and that police were unharmed.

Both men were charged with weapons offenses, with Farris also facing a charge of aggravated assault.

Vanore said the third gunman was not caught.

Investigators gathered more than 80 spent cartridge casings in the alley, Vanore said.

"They were just unloading in the air freely," he said.

On New Year's Eve, District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham warned Philadelphians that if they fired guns into the air at midnight, they would face aggressive prosecution.

Despite warnings, "celebration gunfire" is an unfortunate Philadelphia tradition, Vanore said.

"It still goes on," he said.

gotta love philly...

[fultonCoShooter]

im going to say it again!!! lets give Philly to New Jersey and be done with this sillyness

Basically the cops shot more people on new years/eve than the criminals shot?