‘Brilliant policing’ credited for standoff ’s end

PHILADELPHIA — A suspect accused of shooting six police officers in a north Philadelphia neighborhood Wednesday evening — igniting a standoff that dragged on for hours — likely faces multiple charges that could send him to prison for the rest of his life, the city’s district attorney said Thursday.

The suspect is Maurice Hill, a 36-year-old Philadelphia resident with a history of gun convictions, said his former lawyer, Shaka Johnson.

District Attorney Lawrence Krasner said that Hill could be charged with attempted murder and numerous other counts. No one was killed in the standoff, which ended when the suspect surrendered Thursday morning, police said.

Krasner, who said he spoke to the suspect during the situation, credited “brilliant policing” with ending the standoff.

Johnson said he did not know Hill’s motive. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said he was surprised that the suspect surrendered, telling reporters Thursday morning that the gunman “was indicating to some that he was not going to do that.” Ross said that tear gas shot into the home ultimately resulted in the suspect ending the standoff, as Hill walked out of the house with his arms raised.

“This was a very dynamic situation, one that I hope we never see again,” Ross said.

Ross said Johnson, the suspect’s former lawyer, came to the house toward the end of the standoff and talked with the gunman.

“Using him was unorthodox,” Ross said of the lawyer’s involvement. “But again, it was a very unusual circumstance.”

Johnson said he was watching the standoff on television when Hill called him around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday sounding “defeated.” Johnson said he participated in three- and four-way calls with Hill, Ross and Krasner over the next few hours.

Hill eventually asked Johnson to come to the house, Johnson said, and he arrived around 11:45 p.m. Johnson said he used a megaphone to assure Hill that he was there.

“At some point he said he Philadelphia police take shooting suspect Maurice Hill into custody early Thursday after an hourslong standoff. would come out,” Johnson said. “He said it very plainly: ‘I don’t want to die. I don’t want to end it this way.’”

Hill has a teenage son and a daughter born two days before the standoff, Johnson said. He said Hill was treated at a hospital for tear-gas exposure and released into police custody.

Gunfire first broke out around 4:30 p.m., Ross told reporters, after officers attempted to serve a narcotics warrant “that went awry almost immediately.” Once officers were inside the home, a barrage of bullets forced officers to return fire and retreat through windows and doors.

More than three hours after the first shots rang out, police were still locked in a dangerous standoff with the gunman barricaded inside the home, trading shots with officers outside. Residents were forced to dive behind cars and hide in their homes as bullets flew through the streets and wafts of gunpowder filled the air.

As the sun set Wednesday, Ross said he was concerned about two officers in the house with the gunman. They were there for hours until a SWAT team evacuated them.

As for the officers who were shot, one had his head grazed by a bullet, Ross said, while the others were shot in their arms or elsewhere, he said.

“Nothing short of astounding that in such of a confined space we didn’t have more of a tragedy than we did,” Ross said.

Those shot were released from hospitals later that night, but one officer was still being treated for injuries sustained in a car crash related to the incident.

President Donald Trump weighed in on Twitter on Thursday, writing that “The Philadelphia shooter should never have been allowed to be on the streets. He had a long and very dangerous criminal record. Looked like he was having a good time after his capture, and after wounding so many police. Long sentence — must get much tougher on street crime!”