Abington cop & man wounded in gunfire exchange

An Abington Township police officer who was shot in the leg early yesterday by a Philadelphia man involved in a domestic dispute has been treated and released from an area hospital, authorities said.

The accused gunman, Leon Bailado, 32, also was shot during a gunfight with police that occurred outside the Glenside home of his girlfriend's parents, where the girlfriend had sought refuge after Bailado allegedly threatened her.

Back at the couple's Northeast Philadelphia home, on Shelbourne Street near Devereaux Avenue, Bailado allegedly fired a shot and threatened the girlfriend by saying: "This is the last night that you are going to live. If you try to run, I'll shoot you. If you call the police I'll have a shootout," according to a news release issued by the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.

Kevin Steele, Montgomery County first assistant district attorney, said yesterday that he believed the argument between the two occurred between 10 p.m. Sunday and 1 a.m. yesterday.

The girlfriend, who was not injured when Bailado allegedly fired the handgun in their kitchen, then tried to seek refuge in her parents' house on Cross Road near Garden Road, Glenside.

But Bailado allegedly showed up at the parents' home with a gun. About 1 a.m. yesterday, Abington police responded to a call of a man with a gun breaking into the house, John Livingood, deputy chief of Abington police, said yesterday.

The officers saw Bailado in the back yard, Livingood said. Bailado, armed with a gun, refused to put his hands up and surrender, then "spun around, and that's when they exchanged gunfire," Livingood said.

Officer Robert Davis, a 10-year Abington police veteran, was hit in the left leg. The officer was treated and released from Abington Memorial Hospital yesterday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Bailado, who was hit multiple times, was in serious condition at Abington Memorial yesterday.

Two of the three Abington officers who went to the scene, Davis and Shawn Nisbet, fired their weapons, but it was not yet clear who hit Bailado, Livingood said.

Yesterday, a man who answered at the tidy house where the shooting took place declined comment.

Meanwhile, on Shelbourne Street, where Bailado lived with his girlfriend and their two young children, a neighbor, Ken Wojtylak, 52, said Bailado is a "good guy," who suffered from untreated mental-health issues.

Bailado, a landscaper, had been having problems from being out of work, Wojtylak said. Bailado and his girlfriend, Diana, had been having disputes for a while because of Bailado's mental-health issues and his lack of income, Wojtylak said.

Steele said Bailado was not licensed to carry a handgun. Bailado was charged yesterday with attempted murder, weapons offenses and related charges. *