Police ID suspects arrested in 2 officer-involved shootings

The city saw two officer-involved shootings yesterday, hours and miles apart.

In the first incident, Marquis Cantland, 22, was shot by an officer from West Philly's 18th District after pointing a gun at the officer's partner, police said.

The officers were responding to reports of an armed robbery when they saw Cantland just before 6 a.m. on 61st Street near Walnut, holding a gun in his right hand.

Cantland fled after seeing the police vehicle, and one of the officers ran after him as his partner followed them in the car.

After a short chase, he stopped and then pointed his gun in the direction officer running toward him, setting up a trap, police said.

The officer's partner, observing this, pulled his cruiser alongside the gunman and drew his own weapon.

He ordered Cantland to drop his gun. When he refused, the officer fired once, striking Cantland in his abdomen.
The officers took the man to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he remained last night. His condition was unknown.

At the scene, the officers recovered a Kel-Tec 9 mm handgun loaded with six live rounds, police said.

After Cantland was arrested, police took the victim of the initial robbery, a 47-year-old man, to the scene of the shooting. There, he was able to identify the Kel-Tec as the weapon used to hold him up, and was later able to identify the gunman as the person who attacked him.

Cantland has been charged with robbery, aggravated assault, gun violations and related offenses, police said. It was the 10th arrest on his criminal record.

Hours later, Azzam Allen, 20, led four officers on a "running gunbattle" in East Germantown, Chief Inspector Scott Small said.

Just after 9 p.m., four officers responded to reports of a person with a gun on Pastorius Street near Baynton in East Germantown and encountered Allen, who was armed with a semiautomatic handgun. He refused to surrender the weapon and instead fled, Small said.

As the officers chased Allen, they saw him point the gun in their direction and open fire.

The officers fired back, Small said, and caught up with Allen in a nearby breezeway.

He was not hit by their gunfire. No officers were injured.

At the scene, investigators recovered Allen's gun, which he had fired until it was completely empty, Small said.

A second gun was recovered nearby, but it's unclear if the suspect also wielded it during the incident.

Allen, who has four prior arrests on his criminal record, has been charged with four counts of aggravated assault, gun violations, terroristic threats and related offenses, police said.

All of the officers involved in the two incidents have been placed on administrative duty while Internal Affairs conducts its investigations, per police policy.