Philadelphia gunman in custody after standoff

PHILADELPHIA» A gunman who opened fire on police Wednesday as they were serving a drug warrant in Philadelphia, wounding six officers and triggering a standoff that extended into the night, is in police custody, authorities said.

Philadelphia police Sgt. Eric Gripp said early Thursday morning that the man was taken into custody after an hours-long standoff with police.

The shooting began about 4:30 p.m. as officers went to a home in a north Philadelphia neighborhood of brick and stone rowhomes to serve a narcotics warrant in an operation “that went awry almost immediately,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said.

Many officers “had to escape through windows and doors to get (away) from a barrage of bullets,” Ross said.

The six officers who were struck by gunfire have been released from hospitals, Philadelphia police Sgt. Eric Gripp said.

Two other officers were trapped inside the house for about five hours after the shooting broke out but were freed by a SWAT team well after darkness fell on the residential neighborhood. Three people that officers had taken into custody in the house before the shooting started also were safely evacuated.

“It’s nothing short of a miracle that we don’t have multiple officers killed today,” Ross said.

Temple University locked down part of its campus, and several children and staff members were trapped for some time in a nearby day care.

Police tried to push crowds of onlookers and residents back from the scene. In police radio broadcasts, officers could be heard calling for backup as reports of officers getting shot poured in.

“I was just coming off the train, and I was walking upstairs and there were people running back downstairs who said that there was someone up there shooting cops,” said Abdul Rahman Muhammad, 21, an off-duty medic. “There was just a lot of screaming and chaos.”

At least one other suspect was in custody, police told a local NBC affiliate. The other, while inside the house, at one point was streaming video of the battle live on Facebook.

Police implored the gunman to surrender, patching in his lawyer on the phone with him to try to persuade him to give up, Ross said.

“We’re doing everything within our power to get him to come out,” Ross said during the standoff. “He has the highest assurance he’s not going to be harmed when he comes out.”

Dozens of officers on foot lined the streets. Others were in cars and some on horses. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said its agents responded to assist Philadelphia police.

President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr were briefed, officials said.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said he was thankful that officers’ injuries weren’t life-threatening. “I’m a little angry about someone having all that weaponry and all that firepower, but we’ll get to that another day,” Kenney said.

Alisha Bogan, who lives around the corner from the scene, said she was on her way home to her daughter and mother when she heard gunshots.

“There were a whole lot of people running,” Bogan said.

As the gunfire continued, she took cover under a car. She then tried to get back into her house to see her family but couldn’t get past the police caution tape.