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Philadelphia police officer hospitalized after Kensington shooting; person of interest in custody, police say
By Jessica MacAulay, Taleisha Newbill, Ben Payne
Updated on: June 23, 2024 / 1:55 PM EDT / CBS Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A person of interest is in custody after a Philadelphia police officer was critically injured in a shooting in Kensington Saturday night, officials said.
In a press conference Saturday night, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said shortly after 8 p.m., two officers did a car stop on the 3500 block of F Street, and during the stop, the officers moved to a live stop with the car. The car had 4 people inside.
During the live stop, Bethel said officers were inventorying the car and they saw a man with a holster and he tried to leave the scene. When he left the location, Bethel said he fired three shots at the officer and the officer's partner returned fire.
The officer, a 31-year-old man with about six and half years of experience, was hit in his neck and is currently in the surgical ICU at Temple University Hospital. On Sunday, investigators said the officer still remained in critical condition.
"At this point, we do not have any indication that he returned fire, we definitely know his partner did," Bethel said. "Today I ask the people across the city of Philadelphia to pray for our officer, and pray for the men and women who are here today, who were out in the field knowing they were going to give their lives for this job."
Mayor Cherelle Parker echoed Bethel's remarks, emphasizing the power of prayer.
"Right now, I want you to know that your mayor is a praying mayor and I believe in the power of prayer. And I echo the sentiments of our commissioner, that we need to pray for this Philadelphian serving, protecting the people of our city, doing a noble job under very tough circumstances," Parker said. "His partner, I want us to pray for him as well because he was an act of courage by making sure that our noble law enforcement officer made it here."
Multiple people are in custody, including a person of interest involved in the shooting, but authorities didn't specifically say how many.
"Through the efforts of the men and women out there in the field, our investigators, our homicide team, we have all those individuals in the car, as well as a person of interest who was involved in the shooting at our homicide going through our investigation now," Bethel said.
Authorities say a Philadelphia police officer was taken to the hospital after they were shot in Kensington Saturday night. CBS NEWS PHILADELPHIA
Both Bethel and Parker asked the city to pray for the officer.
"I often come here with a lot of anger about what my men and women must endure, today, I come with a different request," Bethel said. "Today I sat in the auditorium of about 75 to about 100 men from the East Division. And we held hands as Commissioner [John] Stanford brought us together and we prayed for our officer."
"Philadelphia, as your mayor, it's not lost on me that on today a husband, a father, and a son met his partner and went to work. To do a job that he's been doing for about six and a half years," Parker said. "He didn't expect that he would be in a fight for his life."
"So Philadelphia, I believe in the power of prayer, I ask that you join us and that's the most we can do right now in hopes that the family gets a certain peace that passes all understanding," Parker continued. "To the men and women who are putting their lives on the line to protect and serve us, who are still out there right now doing this job, we see you, we appreciate your service."
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