Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey cut short his trip to Texas for a police chiefs' conference to release the video and respond to events going on in Philadelphia.
Ramsey appeared with Mayor Michael Nutter at a news conference Friday afternoon.
They said that they are disturbed about the number of people pointing guns at police.
They also pointed out that police-involved shootings are actually down 36 percent from the same period last year.
As they introduced the surveillance video of Wednesday night's violent police-involved shooting at the corner of Wayne and Roberts in Germantown, Ramsey and Nutter pointed out that the video was recorded by the city's own camera, disputing a claim by City Controller Alan Butkovitz that a lot of the city's cameras are not working.
The police camera video shows a different angle of the incident than the exclusive video shown on Action News Thursday.
The suspect is seen getting out of his car and firing at two men who are running from him.
Seconds later, you can see the 39th district officer get out of his car. And after ordering the man to drop his weapon, the officer fires at him a total of nine times.
"He had to respond, and respond very, very quickly to save the lives of the people this guy was shooting at, as well as his own life," said Ramsey of the officer. Mayor Michael Nutter said the violence police are confronting out on the streets shows that the criminal mindset has no regard for police authority.
"When confronted with these levels of violence, when confronted with the level of firepower out on the streets of this city, I expect our officers to protect themselves first, and to protect members of the public as soon as they possibly can," said Nutter.
The latest numbers released by the police department show that the police-involved shootings are actually down.
As of a week ago last Friday they had 18 since the beginning of the year, as compared to 28 for the same period last year.
They say that is a 36 percent drop in the number of police-involved shootings from 2012 to 2013.
