Cops kill gunman after North Phila. car chase

A high-speed chase and dramatic split-second battle with police left one gunman fatally shot yesterday in the Francisville section of North Philadelphia.

About 1:40 p.m., the gunman, identified as John Styles, 38, lay under a white sheet on 16th Street at Swain, his .380 semi-automatic pistol and a set of keys lying next to him.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, who came to the scene, said two undercover officers attached to the gang squad in the criminal-intelligence unit had witnessed the suspect in a drug transaction on Ingersoll Street near 18th, and chased him when the suspect fled.

Police said the suspect had been fatally shot once in the head.

Styles, who used eight aliases, had nine arrests and four convictions, mostly for receiving stolen property. His one drug arrest on 10 charges in 2005 was dismissed, court records showed.

Meantime, a surprised motorist driving north on 16th Street said he saw a speeding white sedan - with the suspect inside - headed straight for him, the wrong way on 16th, a one-way street.

So the quick-thinking driver pulled to the curb at Swain Street, to avoid a head-on collision. Then, he said, he saw a blue Intrepid - with police inside - chasing the white car.

The white car turned onto Swain Street at 16th and stopped three feet from the shocked motorist, he said, and the gunman hopped out of his car and ran across Swain.

Two undercover officers then rounded the corner, jumped out of their car and yelled "Halt," according to James Hunt, pastor of Holiness Fellowship for All Church, in Kensington, who saw the drama unfold from his green van parked on Swain near 16th.

The gunman "turned around with a gun in his hand," Hunt said. "I heard the shots."

The motorist who had just averted a head-on collision identified himself as "John" to a Daily News videographer and WPVI-TV as he recounted the gun battle three feet from his van:

As the gunman got to the corner, the two plainclothes cops confronted him. "He was about to raise his gun, and the cop shot him once and he went down," John said.

The cop's "reaction was faster than the suspect," he added.

"I never heard the police say 'Stop! Freeze!' [The officer] just shot when he saw the gun," said John. "It was justified due to the fact that innocent people were out here."

A woman in her 40s was walking around the corner as the gunfire erupted, another resident said.

Capt. Michael Ryan, of the 23rd District, headquartered at 17th Street and Montgomery Avenue,said there has been recent drug activity on Ingersoll Street near 18th in North Philadelphia, where the officers saw the drug transaction.

On Feb. 18, a woman answered the door at 3 a.m. in a drug-related incident on the block. When she tried to close the door, she was shot in the "pinky finger on her left hand," Ryan said.

Earlier this month, the narcotics field unit also served warrants to residents of the block. *