Man charged with assault in cop-car shooting

Police said Saturday that they have charged a 21-year-old man with aggravated assault and related offenses in connection with an incident in Frankford on Friday night in which a police officer's unmarked car was shot.

Malik Smith, of the 1600 block of Worrell Street in Juniata Park, is believed to have been one of three men who pointed guns at an officer during a chase. It was not immediately clear if he was the one who shot the unmarked car.

In addition to aggravated assault, Smith faces charges of simple assault, conspiracy, and gun offenses, police said.

The shooting of the unmarked car occurred about 7 p.m. Friday on the 5300 block of Hedge Street.

Police said that shortly before then, officers from the 15th District, headquartered in Mayfair, were in plainclothes, driving solo in unmarked police cars while doing undercover narcotics work.

One officer, who had two men who were not handcuffed in the back of his unmarked car from an earlier drug arrest, was driving on Bridge Street, near Darrah, when he heard gunshots, police said. That officer turned north on Lesher, where he saw multiple people running, police said.

The officer informed police radio of the gunshots, and as he was driving on nearby Hedge Street, he saw a man shooting at his car, police said.

The car was hit twice - one bullet hit the front bumper and another pierced the front grille and hit the radiator; no one inside was injured.

The officer immediately stopped his car and gave chase on foot, police said. After running through a side alley and coming out on Lesher Street, he saw three men "all pointing guns in his direction," police said. The officer took cover and verbally identified himself as a police officer, police said.

Two of the men, one armed with a silver revolver, ran north on Lesher toward Brill, while a third man ran south toward Bridge Street with a gun, police said.

The third man, later identified as Smith, was cut off by responding officers, police said. As Smith ran back and forth behind a parked minivan, an officer heard the sound of metal striking the ground and believed it was a gun being thrown, but no gun was found, police said.

Police are still investigating the incident and are searching for the two men who were with Smith.

They said that after the shooting, another man, Genex Johnson, 22, of the 5200 block of Marlowe Street in Frankford, was arrested on drug-possession charges. He was not believed to have been part of the shooting.

As for the men who were in the back of the unmarked police car when it was shot, they were released and were not charged with any offenses, a police spokeswoman said Saturday. She did not provide further details on them.

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