A gunman
shot a Philadelphia police sergeant in an ambush late Friday and then went on a
shooting rampage that left three people and a University of Pennsylvania police
officer wounded and a woman dead before he was killed, authorities said
Philadelphia
police commissioner Richard Ross Jr. told a press conference early Saturday
that two shooting victims were in critical condition, while the law enforcement
officials were in stable condition.
Officials
did not disclose the suspect's motive or his identity. However, Fox29 reported
that a note written by the suspect expressed hatred of police officers.
The shooting
happened at around 11:20 p.m. in West Philadelphia, a few blocks from the
University of Pennsylvania campus.
Ross said
the violence began when the suspect approached Sgt. Sylvia Young, a 19-year
veteran of the force, as she sat in her police car and opened fire. The
commissioner said that Young was shot up to eight times and some of the shots
were deflected by her bulletproof vest.
"It is
absolutely amazing that she is here [alive]," Ross said, adding that the
suspect did not say anything before he opened fire.
Officials
said the suspect fled, then shot into a nearby bar. Ross said two people were
injured there--a bar security guard who was shot in the left leg and a woman
who the suspect used as a human shield before shooting her in the leg.
As police
gave chase, Ross said the suspect fled again and shot into a nearby car,
striking a man and woman in the chest. Police say the woman died and the man
was in critical condition.
At that
point, Ross said the suspect was chased into an alley by two police officers
and 56-year-old Eddie Miller, a retired cop who is part of the University of
Pennsylvania police force. Miller was wounded.
The gunman
was shot and killed in the alley.
Friday's
shooting was the second ambush of a Philadelphia police officer this year. In
January, 30-year-old Edward Archer shot Officer Jesse Hartnett multiple times
as Hartnett sat in his squad car.
Archer told
investigators he "acted in the name of Islam" and "pledges his
allegiance to [ISIS]", authorities said at the time.
"This
is a dangerous job, it always has been," Ross said Saturday, "[but]
this is a tough time in policing for a lot of reasons."
FOX NEWS
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