Fatal shooting of Philly cop comes days after 3 officers shot in Burholme: 'A numb, numb moment'

Friday, October 13, 2023
Fatal shooting of Philly cop comes days after 3 officers shot in Burholme: 'A numb, numb moment'
Fatal shooting of Philly cop comes days after 3 officers shot in Burholme: 'A numb, numb moment'

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- One police officer is dead and another was injured in a shooting at a parking garage at the Philadelphia International Airport on Thursday night. The shooting comes only a week after three officers were shot and wounded while responding to a domestic-related incident in Northeast Philly.

"A numb, numb moment for us, to again encounter something like this," said Interim Commissioner John Stanford during a news conference early Friday morning.

Stanford said the shooting at the airport happened just after 11 p.m. Thursday in parking garage D as the two officers were coming into work.

Interim Commissioner John Stanford provides update after officers shot at Philadelphia International Airport

The officers saw multiple people trying to break in to vehicles. When the officers intervened, the suspects opened fire.

One officer was hit multiple times in the upper body and later died at Penn Presbyterian Hospital.

The other officer was struck in the arm and was being treated as Jefferson Hospital.

"We just had three officers shot last week. And then this tonight, so you can imagine what we feel. You can imagine what this department is going through. And quite frankly, how the city should be feeling," Stanford said.

On October 4, three Philadelphia police officers were shot and wounded while responding to a domestic-related incident at a home in Northeast Philadelphia's Burholme neighborhood.

In that shooting, there was an argument between a 42-year-old Michael Hwang and his son, apparently over video games.

At some point, the boy's uncle got involved and an argument escalated.

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Police say the child and uncle ran upstairs, Hwang followed them, and that's when he opened fire, striking the uncle.

The child and uncle then called 911.

According to investigators, Hwang failed to drop his weapon and shot two police officers and a police sergeant who were responding to the scene.

Stanford said the shooter was waiting for police when they arrived.

Officers fired back at Hwang, who was ultimately pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said Hwang was wearing a ballistic vest and armed with a 40 caliber Glock pistol and several loaded magazines.

The three injured officers have since been released from the hospital.

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