[News] Shootout in Philadelphia

[Isgrimnur]

Reuters

Six Philadelphia police officers were shot on Wednesday in a drug raid on a home, and at least one shooter continued to fire on officers barricaded inside, according to police and local media.

Philadelphia Police said the officers did not have life-threatening injuries.

Local television station Fox 29 said six officers were taken to two local hospitals, while two other officers were injured in a car accident while responding to the shooting.

NBC 10 said a male suspect was in a building in north Philadelphia and exchanging gunfire with police. “Suspect is still firing. STAY OUT OF THE AREA,” police tweeted.

Fox 29 reported that two drug squad officers were holding individuals they had arrested while serving a warrant, with both officers barricaded inside the building with the suspects.

The shooter was firing into the ceiling of the structure and outside, Fox 29 reported, citing a senior police official.

[Daehawk]

Seems pretty normal news. before the net I doubt it would make national news.

[Jaymann]

Allen Smithee has gone to ground.

[Holman]

Yeah, I've been following this story this afternoon.

It started as an armed warrant service (apparently narcotics), and there were at least two armed suspects in the house. One has been taken into custody but the other is still in a stand-off with police. There are dozens of police vehicles and scores of police in the area.

Last I heard there were seven wounded officers (six from gunshots, one from a vehicle accident), but all are expected to recover.

Seems pretty much locked-down at this point, although of course it sucks if you're being kept out of your neighborhood.

[Holman]

Seems like the Philly PD is bending over backwards to try to bring this suspect in alive. He has been barricaded for hours and has wounded several officers, but police have not escalated to gas or even flashbangs.

As far as I've heard there are no hostages present, so it seems like a case study in restraint.

[LawBeefaroni]

It ended with teargas and surrender. Two officers and three suspects they had handcuffed were trapped for a while by the suspects gunfire. They weren't exactly hostages but they weren't free to leave either.


Throughout, responding officers were taunted and shoved by onlookers as they tried to take up positions and evacuate the wounded.

The local US attorney had some harsh words for the city DA. I swear he could be taking about Chicago.

PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia's top federal prosecutor says the shooting of six police officers during a 7 1/2-hour standoff was precipitated by a disrespect for law enforcement that the city's district attorney is championing.

U.S. Attorney William McSwain said Thursday in a news release that disrespect puts police in danger.

....

What I witnessed last night was true heroism by the Philadelphia police. But the crisis was precipitated by a stunning disrespect for law enforcement - a disrespect so flagrant and so reckless that the suspect immediately opened fire on every single officer within shooting distance. Only by the grace of God did they survive.


Where does such disrespect come from?

There is a new culture of disrespect for law enforcement in this City that is promoted and championed by District Attorney Larry Krasner - and I am fed up with it.

It started with chants at the DA's victory party - chants of "F*** the police" and "No good cops in a racist system."

We've now endured over a year and a half of the worst kinds of slander against law enforcement - the DA routinely calls police and prosecutors corrupt and racist, even "war criminals" that he compares to Nazis.

This vile rhetoric puts our police in danger. It disgraces the Office of the District Attorney. And it harms the good people in the City of Philadelphia and rewards the wicked.

The alleged shooter last night, Maurice Hill, is a previously convicted felon with a long rap sheet. We have plenty of criminal laws in this City - but what we don't have is robust enforcement by the District Attorney. Instead, among other things, we have diversionary programs for gun offenses, the routine downgrading of charges for violent crime, and entire sections of the criminal code that are ignored.

The criminal laws in this City - and especially the existing gun laws and drug laws - should be aggressively enforced in order to protect the public and the police. My Office is doing all that we can. We have prosecuted 70% more violent crime cases this year than we did last year, in response to the District Attorney's lawlessness. But it is now time for the District Attorney and his enablers to stop making excuses for criminals. It is time for accountability. It is time to support law enforcement and to put the good people of this City first.

[LordMortis]

I don't understand. Isn't the DA part of Law Enforcement? Aren't they supposed to work with police as part of the executive branch of government? I am really that off?

I can totally understand anger and a racist PD and working to end institutionalized racial discord and abuse. It's the right thing. I don't understand being openly antagonistic. Is this a corollary to the new normal? We're all our judges presiding over own reality?

[LawBeefaroni]

I don't understand. Isn't the DA part of Law Enforcement? Aren't they supposed to work with police as part of the executive branch of government? I am really that off?

I can totally understand anger and a racist PD and working to end institutionalized racial discord and abuse. It's the right thing. I don't understand being openly antagonistic. Is this a corollary to the new normal? We're all our judges presiding over own reality?

It's what a lot of criminal justice reform looks like.


And antagonism is the new negotiation. Our DA (county state's attorney) held a rally in her own defense when she was in the Smollett mess and one of the speakers called the CPD the "Blue Klux Klan". A police force that is 50% white, 25% Hispanic, and 20% black. Run by a black superintendent.

[Holman]

It ended with teargas and surrender. Two officers and three suspects they had handcuffed were trapped for a while by the suspects gunfire. They weren't exactly hostages but they weren't free to leave either.


Throughout, responding officers were taunted and shoved by onlookers as they tried to take up positions and evacuate the wounded.

The local US attorney had some harsh words for the city DA. I swear he could be taking about Chicago.

I wish I could find it, but I've read from journalists on the scene that reports of "taunting the police" were exaggerated in several tweets by a single witness. These went super-viral in right-wing circles, and they tell a story that doesn't seem to jibe with other reporting.

There were complaints at the police, and maybe even some hotheads involved, but several other reporters say that the major citizens' complaints were aimed at police keeping families with small children out of their homes for hours even when those homes were well out of the line of fire. They wanted the police to shrink the perimeter so they could go home.

PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia's top federal prosecutor says the shooting of six police officers during a 7 1/2-hour standoff was precipitated by a disrespect for law enforcement that the city's district attorney is championing.

U.S. Attorney William McSwain said Thursday in a news release that disrespect puts police in danger.

....

What I witnessed last night was true heroism by the Philadelphia police. But the crisis was precipitated by a stunning disrespect for law enforcement - a disrespect so flagrant and so reckless that the suspect immediately opened fire on every single officer within shooting distance. Only by the grace of God did they survive.


Where does such disrespect come from?

There is a new culture of disrespect for law enforcement in this City that is promoted and championed by District Attorney Larry Krasner - and I am fed up with it.

[...]

McSwain is hardly a neutral party here. He's as Right-wing as DA Krasner is Left, so you have to take his complaints with a grain of salt. Krasner ran as a reformer and has openly aligned himself against police militarization and excessive use of force, but to say that he is against the police is just Trumpian Derp.

Notice that McSwain is blaming not only "disrespect" but the *shooting itself* (by a drug-dealer who barricaded himself in his house) on the DA. This is obviously absurd, so it's very hard to take him seriously.

I watched local coverage of the stand-off for quite a while while it was unfolding, and there was no sense that cops were enduring disrespect and ridicule. It might have happened, but it didn't show up in what I saw.

[LawBeefaroni]

I think the single witness, a local reporter, said that 98% of the people were fine but that the 2% was still a crowd. That's how these things go, a few ruin it for the rest.



Local coverage with the tweets.



Rumor is that the narcotics team that was serving the warrant botched the job by not clearing the first floor properly before moving on. It seems that they got stuck on the second floor with some suspects, blocked by the gunman they missed on the first floor. Apparently the Philly PD "Narcotics Strike Force" has a rocky history with raids and are kind of cowboys by reputation. They are not SWAT but take on jobs that SWAT should be doing.

Totally a rumor in cop circles so take it FWIW. But backed up by some of the reporting.


The North Philly search warrant and PPD’s history of raids gone wrong

After a group of officers entered the multi-unit rowhome on North 15th Street near Erie Avenue around 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, at least two ended up barricaded in upstairs bedrooms as the gunman opened fire from a lower floor.

Hill then began spraying gunfire out a window into the street as dozens of officers arrived for backup, including a SWAT team and members of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, better known as ATF.

Law enforcement experts note that warrant units typically assess risk factors before entering any property, and determine whether or not they need assistance from SWAT teams for the raid. In ideal situations, Giacalone said planning ideally involves looking at floor layouts and assigning each officer a space of the house to clear.

Especially considering the nature of the investigation, Giacalone questions whether enough planning happened before officers entered that house Wednesday afternoon.

“When you’re dealing with narcotics, it’s an automatic that there’s lots of guns at the scene,” he said. “I question why they were going in there at 4 in the afternoon.”

[malchior]

Apparently the Philly PD "Narcotics Strike Force" has a rocky history with raids and are kind of cowboys by reputation. They are not SWAT but take on jobs that SWAT should be doing.

Totally a rumor in cop circles so take it FWIW. But backed up by some of the reporting.

They are (were?) also plagued with dirty cops who were rumored to be robbing drug dealers. The most visible case of this was the Meek Mills situation that got *ridiculous* over the last few years. So you have corruption and incompetence throughout the NSF, possibly corrupt and definitely biased judges, and all manner of sad situations in general with the blue collar portion of the community really dealing with widespread poverty.

tldr; Philly has all sorts of bad governance issues which is why it is hilarious the US attorney would be blasting the DA who has been trying his best to clean up a shit show.

[LawBeefaroni]

I think he problem is that the pendulum swings too far both ways. Bad cops lead to "restorative justice" which leads to lax prosecution which leads to more crime and powerless cops. Morale is terrible, the good guys leave, force is full of bad cops...

We're seeing it here with zero prosecution for a large number of "non-violent" crimes like carjacking ("vehicular tresspass") smash and grab robberies ("shoplifting"), zero chase policies, etc. Presumably making up for past bad practices?