Philly Police ID officer who shot 17-year-old who appeared to be reaching for gun

Philadelphia police on Tuesday identified the officer who shot a 17-year-old three times in North Philadelphia last week after the officer and his partner stopped him while searching for a robbery suspect, and the teen allegedly reached toward a gun in his waistband during a struggle.

Officer Corey Williams, 35, a six-year veteran, fired the shots, police said.

The teen was in stable condition at Temple University Hospital, where he was taken to after being shot in the right thigh and lower back, police said. They did not identify him because he is a juvenile, but said he would be charged with firearms violations, resisting arrest, and related crimes.

Police also said it “does not appear” that the teen committed the robbery for which he was initially stopped.

According to the police account, Williams and his partner from the 39th District had been searching for a robbery suspect about 9 p.m. Friday on the 2800 block of West Somerset Street. The officers came upon the teen, who police said “matched the description” of the robbery suspect.

Police said that the teen “became increasingly hostile” during the stop, and that Williams “felt an object consistent with a firerarm” in the teen’s waistband. The teen eventually broke free, police said, and “motioned with his hand [toward] his front waistband area.”

Williams then fired three shots, police said, and the teen fell to the ground. A gun fell out of his waistband, police said, and he was taken to Temple.

The shooting came five days after new Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw took over, and two days after a man believed to be overdosing was punched by an officer and later died.

Last year, city officers shot at nine people, according to police statistics, the lowest total in at least a decade.