A SEPTA police officer was in critical but stable condition and two women also suffered gunshot wounds in an incident involving a barricaded gunman, who was found dead inside an apartment building.
By Robert Moran and Max Marin . Source The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA—A SEPTA transit police officer was hospitalized in critical but stable condition after gun battle erupted Wednesday evening between police and a man suspected of shooting two women in the city’s Frankford section.
The male suspect was later found dead inside an apartment building where he had barricaded himself and was firing out a window at officers, police said after the situation was declared under control.
Around 7 p.m., officers responded to the sound of gunshots near the Arrott Transportation Center and found two women with gunshot wounds at Arrott and Griscom Streets, police said.
A man believed to be the shooting suspect ran into a property on the 4700 block of Leiper Street and began firing shots from a window at officers outside, police said.
Multiple officers fired back at the shooter, police said.
The wounded SEPTA transit police officer was transported to Temple University Hospital.
Several officers were pinned down but were rescued with the help of a SWAT armored vehicle.
In cell phone video taken by a nearby resident and shown to the Inquirer, officers can be seen taking cover on the corner of Leiper and Arrott Streets as the gunman fires down on them from the second floor window of the corner property.
One officer, wearing a tactical vest, appears to take a shot in the chest area.
“I’m hit!” he yells, falling to the street behind a police cruiser.
The officer pulls himself up and staggers west on Arrott Street, away from the house, as other police exchange gunfire with the shooter.
Around 8:25 p.m. the situation was declared under control. Police later said the man was found dead inside the property with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. A gun was found near his body, police said.
The area around the barricade has been closed to civilian traffic.
Dozens of police officers were working to cordon off a multi-block stretch near Arrott Transportation Center shortly after 8:30 p.m., where dozens of bullet casings could be seen on the ground near Penn and Arrott Streets.
One resident near the scene, who asked not to use his name, said he was in his house eating dinner when he heard 30 to 40 shots outside on Arrott Street.
His daughter was getting off the train when gunfire erupted, he said. “One of the bullets barely missed her.”
This particular block had not seen many shootings recently, he said.
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