A woman dies after being shot by police in Hunting Park
Police say the woman ignored repeated commands to drop her weapon, and seemed unaffected by an officer’s taser.
A woman who waved a gun at officers died after being shot by police early Sunday in Hunting Park, officials said.
Patrol officers responded to reports of a person with a gun on the 900 block of West Erie Avenue shortly after 4 a.m. The officers said they encountered a 35-year-old woman holding a handgun to the right side of her head.
Police say the distraught woman ignored repeated commands to drop her weapon and seemed unaffected by an officer’s Taser. The woman fled across Erie Avenue, pointing her gun in the direction of two 25th District officers who opened fire, striking her three times, police said.
Police transported the wounded woman to Temple University Hospital.
The woman was pronounced dead at 4:42 p.m., police announced Sunday evening. Police said they would release her name after her family was notified.
At the scene, investigators said they discovered a .22-caliber handgun that had an obliterated serial number, with one round in the chamber and 19 more in the gun’s magazine.
The woman had been charged with aggravated assault on police.
Body-worn cameras captured the incident, police said. Per department policy, the officers who fired their weapons — both have been on the force for less than three years — have been placed on desk duty pending an investigation.
The case is being investigated by the department’s Officer-Involved Shooting Investigation Unit, Internal Affairs Bureau, and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.
Staff writer Andrew Kitchenman contributed to this article.