LDS Freedom Forum

Police officer wounded, gunman killed in shootout
By Barbara Boyer and Sam Wood

INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

A Philadelphia Police detective was wounded and a fugitive killed in a shootout in North Philadelphia today, less than a week after the funeral for another officer slain by gunfire, officials said.

The detective, a 20-year veteran assigned to the major crime task force who was not immediately identified, was reported in stable condition at Temple University Hospital with a leg wound. He walked into the hospital on his own and called his family to report he had been hurt but was alive, officials said.

The detective's wife was soon at his side and their four children - a 21-year-old man, a 16-year-old girl and 10-year-old twin boys - joined them a short time later.

The alleged gunman also was not immediately identified.

Police said the detective and a sergeant went to a house at Germantown and Indiana Avenues, near the historic Fair Hill Burial Ground, around noon with a warrant for a man wanted in an October shooting.

Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross said that when the wanted man opened the door, he ran back inside and the officers chased after him.

In the house, the fugitive suddenly spun and fired from the hip with a pistol, hitting the detective in the leg, Ross said. The officers returned fire and the man stumbled out into the street, where he collapsed and died.

An hour later, his body was still on the street, his face covered with a blaze orange shirt.

Police recovered a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol at the scene, Ross said.

Mayor Nutter visited with the detective at the hospital. He said the bullet went through the detective' upper left thigh.

"He is fully alert . . . and in tremendously good spirits," Nutter said.

He said the detective probably would be hospitalized for at least another day for observation.

"We've been at this scene too many times and the outcome has been very different . . . He's just a good guy trying to do his job," Nutter said of the detective.

The shooting came just hours after Rasheed Scruggs, charged in the killing of Police Officer John Pawlowski, was released from hospital and taken to a city prison.

Scruggs, 33, had been hospitalized at Albert Einstein Medical Center with gunshot wounds since Feb. 13, when he allegedly shot and killed Pawlowski, 25, in Olney following an attempted robbery.

Police said Scruggs, a career criminal, fired a revolver through his jacket pocket, striking Pawlowski in the chest just above his bullet-proof vest.

Funeral services were held for Pawlowski last Friday.

Scruggs, who was arraigned at the hospital earlier this week, is charged with murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, robbery, numerous weapons counts and narcotics possession, police said.