Chester police officer in critical condition after shooting
A Chester police officer injured in an exchange of gunfire remained hospitalized Sunday, while investigators gathered details on the shooting that also killed one man and wounded another.
A Chester police officer injured in an exchange of gunfire remained hospitalized Sunday, while investigators gathered details on the shooting that also killed one man and wounded another.
Capt. Alan Davis was in critical but stable condition Sunday at Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland. He was shot in the lower back and arm, and was expected to undergo surgery Sunday, said Thaddeus Kirkland, Chester's mayor.
"Everything looks very promising and positive," Kirkland said.
Davis, a 25-year veteran, was shot after pulling over a Pontiac Grand Prix that matched the description of a car reported stolen from Darby, officials said. Three men were inside the car when officers approached it about 4 p.m. at the William Penn Housing Development near Fifth and Parker Streets. One officer asked the men to get out of the vehicle, and then Davis was shot. Officers returned fire.
One man was killed and another wounded. The injured man was in serious but stable condition Sunday at the same hospital, the mayor said. A third man was being held at the Chester Police Department. None was identified, and no charges had been filed by Sunday afternoon, officials said.
Officials would not say which of the three men shot Davis, or whether Davis himself fired his weapon.
As Chester police collected evidence Saturday, people threw rocks and bottles at them, Kirkland said. Some bottles, he said, contained urine.
Some officers suffered minor injuries, and several people were handcuffed. One man was taken into custody and charged, officials said, although the charges were not immediately available Sunday.
Chester, a city of 34,000, had six homicides in 2016 until Saturday's shooting. On Feb. 8, police were involved in another shooting in which six officers fired as many as 100 shots at and killed Shalamar Longer, who had led police on a chase before crashing his SUV in Chester. Officials said Longer pointed a gun at officers and ruled the shooting justified, but the number of shots fired still upset the community.
Kirkland promised body cameras for officers, and asked the U.S. Justice Department to review past fatal police shootings and use-of-force policies.
"I think what we're doing is we're trying to build relationships in the community," he said.
On Sunday, he emphasized the need to get guns off the streets.
"The only thing that needs attention are guns," he said. "There are just too many."
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