It all began around 2:00 a.m. Tuesday with a minor traffic incident, when a sedan rear-ended a SUV. Temple bike patrol officers who heard the incident rode over to the scene to offer aid.
According to police, the driver of the sedan involved in the incident was armed, and for some reason he started firing at the unarmed security officers.
Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small explained, "We don't know why that the suspect decided to fire at least eight shots - we found eight casings from the suspect's weapon - why the suspect decided to fire eight shots at these uniformed Temple bike officers. Central Detectives is on the scene, Internal Affairs is on the scene because it's a police discharge they're going to do an investigation. We have at least five witnesses."
When bullets started flying, an emergency response call went out. Arriving Philadelphia police officers confronted the armed man. The man reportedly pointed his weapon at police and that's when officers opened fire, striking the gunmen.
"The weapon was recovered by police. It's a .45-caliber Taurus semi-automatic handgun," says Chief Inspector Small.
The 32-year-old suspect was shot once in the thigh and is currently hospitalized in stable condition. His injury was the only one recorded in the incident.
