Neighbors question details of fatal North Philly police shooting of 33-year-old man

Police are reviewing video footage and interviewing witnesses in North Philadelphia after two officers opened fire on a 33-year-old man who, according to a police spokesperson, had fired a gun during a struggle with one of the officers.

The man, identified Friday as Curtis Smith, was pronounced dead at 3:06 p.m. Thursday at Temple University Hospital.

Sgt. Eric Gripp, a Police Department spokesperson, said Smith was shot around 2:20 p.m. Thursday after he fled down the 2200 block of North Camac Street during a police investigation into a possible stolen vehicle. He ran through an abandoned lot, then into an alley behind a property on Dauphin Street.

Both pursuing officers fired their weapons and were wearing body cameras, but it remained unclear Friday if shots from both officers struck Smith. He was struck seven times, according to police.

Police have not yet named the officers or released the body camera footage. Both were relatively new to the department and have been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of an internal investigation. Neither was injured.

According to a Philadelphia law enforcement source on Friday, the body camera footage appears to show Smith pointing a firearm at an officer. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the investigation, which was still in the preliminary stage.

Nearby residents were distraught to learn that Smith, a father who came from a working-class neighborhood, had been shot by police. They disputed the police account of what happened.

Phillip Smith, who answered the telephone Friday at a number linked through public records to Curtis Smith’s address, said he saw the pursuit. He said one of the officers shot Curtis Smith several times in the back, but he declined to elaborate before hanging up.

“I was standing right there, I watched it,” Phillip Smith said.

His description was similar to an account by a woman at the scene Thursday who said she was a friend of Smith’s grandmother. She declined to provide her name.

“The camera’s gonna show and speak for itself,” the woman said.

Gripp, the police spokesperson, said Smith was not fleeing when he was shot. He said shots weren’t fired until both of the officers and Smith were behind the property on Dauphin Street where Smith had stopped running. Entry and exit wounds will be determined by a medical examiner’s investigation.

Smith was facing the first officer with his gun pointed at him when that officer fired his weapon, according to Gripp. He said the first officer and Smith got in a struggle as the officer tried to disarm Smith and handcuff him. When the second officer arrived, both ordered Smith to drop the handgun, Gripp said.

The struggle continued, he said, and Smith fired one shot that missed both officers. The second officer fired several times at Smith, striking him, while the first officer pulled the gun from Smith’s hand.

Security camera footage shared by NBC10 on social media appears to depict Smith running from two police officers near Fawn Street. Gripp said he couldn’t authenticate the video, but that it was consistent with the pursuing officers’ body-worn camera footage and other evidence.

Smith, who was registered to vote at an address on 12th Street near Susquehanna Avenue, one block from the shooting, has several arrests dating to 2009 and two open court cases on drug and firearms offenses, according to court records.

Jane Roh, a spokesperson for District Attorney Larry Krasner, declined to release additional information Friday.

“As with all officer discharges in Philadelphia, the DA’s Special Investigations Unit responds to the scene and works with the Officer Involved Shooting Investigation unit,” Roh said. “The SIU investigation of this matter is very much active and ongoing.”

Gripp said the officer who struggled with Smith joined the Police Department in March of 2020; the second officer in March of 2022.

In an effort to promote transparency and accountability, a 2021 Philadelphia police directive requires the department in most cases to identify officers who fatally shoot an individual within 72 hours of the incident. The names can be withheld indefinitely if a threat assessment shows that releasing the names could put the officers in danger.