Police investigate alleged threat against Philadelphia, NYPD officers
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia police and the NYPD are on high alert after an anonymous caller phoned in a tip Wednesday to both departments - that caller naming a man from the Bronx - saying he is an ISIS sympathizer who wanted to kill police in both cities.
Action News has learned the man named by the caller was informed police were looking for him and surrendered to his parole officer. He is now being questioned by police who are trying to figure out if that threat was real.
"One of the phone calls indicated ISIS - not the phone call to Philadelphia, but rather the phone call to New York and we are taking is serious based on what happened in Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago," said Chief Thomas Galati, NYPD.
As a precaution, a safety bulletin went out on Wednesday to officers in both cities.
"We just want our officers to be alert and aware of what's going on around the country, and, again, because this was directed toward our department as well as New York, we want them to be on standby," said Philadelphia Police Lt. John Stanford.
It was nearly two weeks ago when a man opened fire on Philadelphia Police Officer Jesse Hartnett. The suspect later told investigators he had pledged allegiance to ISIS.
The NYPD made it clear they just wanted to talk to the man named by the caller - to figure out if the threat is legitimate.
"That's about as far as we can go with this. This is something that's in progress. It's information that came in, in two anonymous phone calls so our ability to go into details that we really just don't have yet is fairly limited," said Deputy Commissioner John Miller, NYPD.
The alleged ISIS sympathizer has a number of outstanding warrants so he is being held in custody.
We're told he has associations with a gang, and this may all have been a set up by a rival gang member. That's part of what police are trying to sort out.
