Teen Charged with Shooting Cops

FRANKFORD - November 14, 2007 (WPVI) -- A 16-year-old is under arrest after a pair of Philadelphia police officers were shot in Frankford. Police say he fired a stolen .357 Magnum on officers who were trying to serve a warrant.

The teen faces 9 counts of attempted murder charges, because that's how many officers were involved in the operation. Investigators recovered a handgun at the scene.

When asked by reporters about the evidence against the teen as the triggerman, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson replied, "We're very confident."

The shooting happened just before 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at 2031 Orthodox Street in the Frankford section of the city.

One officer was taken to Temple University Hospital with a wound to his leg. He was treated and released just before 8:00 p.m.

The other officer was taken to Frankford Hospital, Southern Division. He was wounded in the hip. A police commander told Action News reporter Vernon Odom that the officer was "doing great." He was released from the hospital late Tuesday night.

One of the officers had the bullet removed without anesthesia.

"He had a hole the size of a 50¢ piece, and he sat there with a doctor and extracted it with no anguish, it was truly amazing his composure... It was without anesthesia," Chief Inspector William Blackburn said.

Officials said the gunman opened fire as plainclothes narcotics officers tried to serve a warrant on a suspected drug dealer. They were assisted by uniformed officers positioned at the front and the back of the house.

Johnson said the officers were using a battering ram to enter the home. He said someone fired shots out the window and hit the two officers.

"Both of them are very, very lucky," Johnson said.

Johnson said he isn't releasing the officers' names because they work undercover. He said a female officer did fire into the house, but it was not known if anyone was hit.

An enormous number of officers converged on the scene in the search for the gunman. A police helicopter shined a light over the area to aid the officers on the ground.

Mayor John Street decried what he called a "deterioration of respect for law and order and for our police department" and urged lawmakers to help the city get illegal guns off the streets.

"I think people in Harrisburg and Washington who are resisting reasonable efforts to curtail the flow of guns out into the community need to take notice of all of this," he said.

The shooting comes less than a week after Officer Chuck Cassidy was laid to rest. He was mortally wounded when he walked into a donut shop during a robbery attempt on October 31.

The suspect, 21-year-old John Lewis, was arrested days later in Miami and is now in custody in Philadelphia.

There has been a spate of shootings at police officers recently; most of the wounded officers have survived. Before Cassidy was shot, the most recent fatal shooting of a Philadelphia police officer came in May 2006.

Officer Gary Skerski was fatally shot in the neck when a man robbing a bar fired a shotgun out the back door. The killer, Solomon Montgomery, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

(Copyright 2007 by 6abc and Action News. All rights reserved.)

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