PHILLY COP AMBUSHED ‘ IN THE NAME OF ISLAM’
Man accused of firing 13 shots in ambush, injured in return fire
The suspect in the wounding of a Philadelphia police officer told officers he carried out the ambush “in the name of Islam,” Police Commissioner Richard Ross said Friday.
Ross said the suspect, Edward Archer, 30, fired 13 shots from a semiautomatic pistol that hit officer Jessie Hartnett, 33, and his car Thursday night.
Hartnett returned fire, hitting the gunman at least three times. Archer was quickly taken into custody by other officers.
Archer, who wore a long white robe over dark pants, “confessed to committing this cowardly act in the name of Islam. He said he believes that the police defend laws that are contrary to the teaching of the Quran,” Ross said at a news conference.
Hartnett, who was hit three times in his left arm, sustained “very serious injuries,” Ross said.
Surveillance video shows the gunman running into the street and right up to Hartnett’s police car. He put the gun directly into the driver- side window and fired. Ross said the weapon was a stolen police gun.
Mayor Jim Kenney played down the Islam connection.
“This is a criminal with a stolen gun who tried to kill one of our officers,” he said. “It has nothing to do with being a Muslim or following the Islamic faith.”
Archer’s mother, Valerie Holliday, told
The Philadelphia Inquirer her son suffered head injuries from playing football and in a moped accident. He has “been acting kind of strangely lately, talking to himself ... laughing and mumbling,” she said.
During the attack, Hartnett shouted on the police radio, “Shots fired! I’m shot! I’m bleeding heavily,” KYW- TV reported.
“This is absolutely one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen,” Ross said Friday.
Kenney, who is in his first week as mayor of Philadelphia, said, “There are just too many guns on the streets.”