Off-duty Philadelphia cop shot a man in South Philly after he charged with scissors, police say

The man was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital by the Fire Department. He was in surgery around 8 p.m. and in critical condition, police said.

A multiple exposure photograph of a Philadelphia Police Department cruiser parked on North Broad Street September 10, 2019.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

by Andrew Seidman

Published May 9, 2020, 9:06 p.m. ET

An off-duty Philadelphia police officer shot a man in South Philadelphia after he lunged at the officer with a pair of scissors, authorities said.

The officer, whom police did not name, was at the home of an acquaintance on the 2500 block of South Seventh Street around 5:45 p.m. when he heard a commotion outside and found a man dumping out the contents of recycling bins and breaking glass, authorities said.

The officer told the man to stop, but instead he brandished the scissors and swung at the officer at least twice, according to Capt. Sekou Kinebrew, a police spokesperson.

The officer identified himself as a policeman, commanded the man to stop, and shot the man with his privately owned firearm, striking him in a wrist, left leg, and torso, police said.

The man was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital by the Fire Department, Kinebrew said. He was in surgery around 8 p.m. and in critical condition. Police said they hadn’t been able to identify the man as of 8:30 p.m., but said they believed he was around 60 years old.

Police did not provide the officer’s name but said he worked in the 17th District and had been on the force for three years. The officer wasn’t injured.

The Police Department will investigate the shooting, Kinebrew said.