Phila. man charged with shooting police officer
A Philadelphia man was charged today with attempted murder in the June 14 shooting spree that wounded a city police officer.
Lawrence Peel, 28, is accused of shooting officer Ashley Hoggard outside Franchise Sports Bar, on Broad Street at Somerset, amid a fracas that left investigators with an eight-block crime scene that took two weeks to reconstruct.
The arrest is based on a combination of eyewitness reports and ballistic evidence, Deputy Commissioner William Blackburn said.
Blackburn said witnesses place Peel at the corner of Park and Somerset streets, where spent cartridges that littered the ground match a 9 mm gun investigators say Peel used.
Additionally, a bullet recovered from the back of a car parked in the vicinity proves Peel was aiming at the police officer, he said.
"We can conclusively prove that he was firing in that direction," Blackburn said.
However, police cannot yet confirm the bullet that struck Hoggard was fired by Peel, because doctors cannot remove the bullet lodged in Hoggard's shoulder, Blackburn said.
Peel, one of four men who have been charged in connection with the incident, was already in custody when he was charged with attempted murder today. Police had charged him with aggravated assault days after the shooting for allegedly striking a woman minutes before Hoggard was shot.
