Philadelphia officer shot in hand; man dies after being shot by police inside home
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A Philadelphia police officer was shot in the hand during a struggle with a man inside a residence in the city's Kensington neighborhood.
The incident happened just before 7:30 p.m. Wednesday on the 2800 block of Ruth Street.
Officials say officers responded to the area for reports of shots being fired. At the scene, the officers saw spent shell casings leading to a house in the area.
When officers arrived at the door, police heard a commotion coming from inside.
Officials say they found a man hiding in a crawl space in the basement when officers entered the home, and police were trying to coax him out.
"The officers gave several orders for that male to leave from the crawl space and that person continued to refuse the officers' orders. The officers then struggled with the male in an attempt to get him to leave the crawl space," said Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw.
Officers then used a Taser on the man, but police say it was not effective.
According to Outlaw, the man then tried to grab the Taser and that's when a shot was fired.
One of the officers suffered a gunshot wound to the hand, but it's still unclear who shot the officer or if the man was armed with a gun.
Outlaw says three officers discharged their weapons, striking the man who was later found dead.
Further details on the shooting are still under investigation.
"At this point, I know that there was a struggle, and we know that there were shots fired. Timeline, all of that, will come into fruition as we get the opportunity to not only interview witnesses that were there on the scene but to get statements from all the officers involved," said Outlaw.
The injured officer was taken to Temple University Hospital and was discharged a short time later.
Police say he's 27 years old, married, and assigned to the 24th District.
There is no word yet on the identities of the injured officer or man involved in this shooting.
(Correction: Sources told Action News on Wednesday night the man who was shot was wanted for questioning in a murder investigation. However, police and the district attorney's office said Thursday the man who was shot was not the one who was wanted for questioning and he has no warrants against him).
