Suspect in Philadelphia shooting standoff taken into custody

Police take shooting suspect Maurice Hill into custody after an hourslong standoff with police, that wounded several police officers, in Philadelphia on Aug 15. The standoff started Wednesday afternoon, as officers went to a home to serve a narcotics warrant in an operation ‘that went awry almost immediately,’ Philadelphia

Police Commissioner Richard Ross said. (AP) A suspect was taken into custody early on Thursday after a seven-hour armed standoff at a Philadelphia home in which six police officers were wounded in a barrage of bullets.

The gunman had barricaded himself inside the home as police urged him to surrender. News media outlets reported he was armed with a semi-automatic rifle and several handguns.

Police moved in about five hours into the standoff, which began after the gunman opened fire on officers as they served a drugs warrant in the city’s Nicetown-Tioga neighborhood.

The suspect surrendered, hands held high in the air, local news broadcasts showed after midnight, and was taken into custody, police said.

SWAT teams were still securing the home after midnight, police spokesman Eric Gripp said. All six wounded officers had been released from the hospital.

A SWAT team rescued two police officers and three civilians who had been trapped in the house, police said.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, citing police sources, identified the suspected gunman as Maurice Hill, 36, a Philadelphia man with a history of gun, drugs and assault convictions.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the suspect had a long and very dangerous criminal record and that he should never have been allowed to be on the streets. (RTRS)