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Philly police decline to identify officers in killing of 12-year-old, citing threats

The city began releasing the names of officers within three days of a shooting in 2015 amid public pressure for more police accountability, but there are exceptions to the policy.

The scene in the area of 18th and Johnston Streets on Tuesday after Thomas "T.J." Siderio was shot by Philadelphia police
The scene in the area of 18th and Johnston Streets on Tuesday after Thomas "T.J." Siderio was shot by Philadelphia policeRead moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

The Philadelphia Police Department on Friday declined to release the names of the officers involved in the Tuesday fatal shooting of 12-year-old Thomas “TJ” Siderio in South Philadelphia, despite a department policy that typically allows officials to identify officers who shoot people within 72 hours.

It remains unclear when the department will release the names, or if they will identify all present officers or only those who shot at the child.

The city began releasing the names of officers within three days of a shooting in 2015, amid public pressure for more police accountability, but there are exceptions to the policy if officials feel there are concerns for the officers’ safety.

Corporal Jasmine Reilly, a department spokesperson, said a “threat assessment” on Friday identified threats against the officers “so we will not be releasing their names at this time.” The department did not elaborate on the nature of the threats.

» READ MORE: What we know — and don’t — after Philadelphia police fatally shot 12-year-old Thomas Siderio

Police records obtained by The Inquirer on Thursday identified the officers at the scene of the shooting as Edsaul Mendoza, Kwaku Sarpong, Robert Cucinelli, and Alexander Camacho.

Officials said Wednesday the four officers were detailed to a task force based in the city’s South Division, where a social media post prompted the group to search for a teenager in relation to a stolen gun.

Driving an unmarked vehicle, the plainclothes officers approached TJ and a 17-year-old, police said, because they believed one of them had a handgun. Officers said they turned on their flashing lights, then heard gunfire — and a rear window on their car shattered.

According to police, two of the officers got out and fired toward TJ, who they said was holding a handgun. One officer then briefly chased the boy and fatally shot him in the back, police said. It remained unclear Friday which officer fired the shot that struck and killed the child.

» READ MORE: Conflicting accounts emerge over police shooting of 12-year-old boy, the youngest person fatally shot by Philly police in decades

The mother of the 17-year-old — who was briefly detained but has not been charged with a crime — disputed parts of the police account on Thursday. According to her son, she said, the officers did not turn on their emergency lights or identify themselves before any shots were fired. The boys, she said, were afraid that someone in the car was about to attack them and didn’t know there were officers inside.

Home surveillance footage reviewed by The Inquirer does not show what led up to the shooting. Officials said the plainclothes officers were not equipped with body-worn cameras, and declined to release surveillance footage from the nearby playground.

Attempts to reach three of the officers were unsuccessful, and the police union declined to comment on the shooting this week.

The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 unsuccessfully sued the department to block the 72-hour policy for identifying officers. The suit came in 2017 after protesters staged a demonstration outside the home of former Philadelphia police officer Ryan Pownall, who fatally shot 30-year-old David Jones in 2017.

A Common Pleas Court judge sided with attorneys for the city, who maintained the policy helped fortify public trust. Delaying the release of officers’ names in the wake of shootings, they argued, had created tensions and drawn raucous protests in cities across the country.

The debate has also been a flashpoint between lawmakers in Harrisburg in recent years.