PHILADELPHIA — Three SWAT officers serving an arrest warrant were injured and a suspect was killed in a shooting Wednesday morning in North Philadelphia.
It happened around 6:30 a.m. in the 800 block of 10th Street near Brown Street.
Officers were serving a warrant for a suspect wanted for murder and other violent crimes. Police sources identified the suspect as 19-year-old Raheem Lee.
Lee fired at officers through a door and a window, police said.
“Officers were able to continue to breach the property where they received more gunfire from this individual,” said Deputy Commissioner John Stanford.
That’s when they got to the officers. One officer was wounded in the thigh and the other in the leg.
A third officer was wounded in the chest after a bullet ricocheted off his vest. He suffered a severe contusion, but it is said that the bullet did not penetrate.
Police said the suspect then attempted to flee through the back of the property, at which point the suspect fired at SWAT officers who were there.
At least six officers opened fire on the suspect, striking him in the head.
Lee was taken to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just after 7:30 a.m
Action News reports that one of the injured officers drove with his partner straight down 10th Street to Jefferson Hospital for help.
“Let it be known that I am wounded in the thigh, my partner is wounded in the leg,” he could be heard saying over the police radio.
The officer who was wounded in the chest and the officer who was wounded in the thigh were treated and released from the hospital. We have learned that the officer with the thigh wound was sent home with a bullet lodged in him. Doctors are going to wait for the swelling to go down before trying to remove it.
The officer with a leg wound is in the hospital. Police say the bullet went through the officer’s leg, so he is being held overnight for observation.
Homicide sources say Lee was wanted for murder at approximately 2:46 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 21, in the 2600 block of West Berks Street.
There, a 34-year-old man was found in the interior of a Range Rover with gunshot wounds to the neck. The victim was identified as Theodore Bell of the 10800 block of Keswick Road.
Sources say Bell fathered Lee’s sister’s baby.
Pictured: The scene of a homicide in the 2600 block of West Berks Street in Philadelphia on August 21, 2022.
Lee was also wanted for multiple armed robberies.
Stanford called the level of gun violence in Philadelphia “ridiculous,” adding that “enough is enough.”
“There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t have a kid get shot or a few people get shot because there are too many people with guns and they don’t have consequences,” he said. “Some people need to go to jail.”
“This shouldn’t happen, it’s not normal,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’ve come to believe that this is a normal course of events – it’s not … it’s a cause for concern.”
Stanford emphasized that Wednesday’s suspected gunman was only 19 years old.
“Something broke in this young man’s life a long time ago and it didn’t start today,” he said.
Several officers arrived at Jefferson Hospital to check on the wounded commandos.
Mayor Jim Kenney said the officers sat and talked while surrounded by family members.
“Our officers continue to work every day and every night, work their hardest, be brave, put themselves in harm’s way and do it for us,” Kenney said.
Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, who is currently attending a conference of police chiefs in Dallas, issued a statement condemning violence against officers.
“While our SWAT officers are highly trained professionals, this is another chilling reminder of the dangers associated with their work. Rental service is always a high-risk job; especially if the suspect is wanted in connection with a violent crime,” she said.
“But let me make something perfectly clear: It is NOT the job of our officers to be shot at. It is not their job to be poked, spat on, manhandled or assaulted in any way. And this type of violence against our police — against anyone — cannot continue to be normal,” she continued. “As your police commissioner, I can promise you this: our officers will not be intimidated, and we will continue to do our best possible to make Philadelphia a safer place to live.”
Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5 President John McNesby says he’s disappointed that someone linked to murder and armed robbery allegations was made public in the first place
“There is no responsibility. Zero responsibility. And they do what they want, they shoot the police, they shoot the community, they shoot the children, and nothing happens. They are not brought to justice,” he said.
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