Police ID 9 officers who fired at W. Philly man in fatal shooting
The Philadelphia Police Department on Saturday identified the nine officers who discharged their weapons on Cobbs Creek Parkway on Wednesday night, killing a West Philadelphia man who had earlier that day gone on a rampage stabbing, choking, or beating five people, including his son and daughter.
The Philadelphia Police Department on Saturday identified the nine officers who discharged their weapons on Cobbs Creek Parkway on Wednesday night, killing a West Philadelphia man who had earlier that day gone on a rampage stabbing, choking, or beating five people, including his son and daughter.
The department said it had not yet determined which of the officers' gunfire struck Christopher Sowell, 32.
On Friday, Police Commissioner Richard Ross said the nine officers fired a total of 109 shots Wednesday night. Police have said it wasn't yet known how many times Sowell, who was shot several times, was hit.
Most of the nine officers who discharged their weapons are assigned to the 18th District in West Philadelphia; two are with the 12th District in Southwest Philadelphia. They range from having one year of service to 19 years on the force.
The 18th District officers and years of service are Anthony Britton Jr., 17 years; Jeremy Olesik, nine years; Michael Kane Jr., nine years; Thomas Thompson, one year; Walton Scott, two years; Ronald Green, 19 years; and Adrian Hustler, nine years. The 12th District officers are Richard Edwards, eight years, and Timothy Moebius, three years.
In 2014, an officer named Adrian Hustler was among 83 officers awarded Fraternal Order of Police commendations. He was cited for his role in saving a severely despondent woman from herself.
Officers named Jeremy Olesik and Ronald Green were accused in a 2014 federal civil rights lawsuit of breaking into the wrong house in response to a report of a home invasion. After they battered down the door of the 5250 Larchwood Ave. home of William and Mary Watson, they allegedly beat the couple's son, Jamal, shocking him with a Taser, according to the lawsuit.
"After beating plaintiff, Jamal Watson, in the presence of his horrified parents, and then repeatedly continuing to Taser him while lying face down on the floor of his home, the defendants suddenly announced that they were at the wrong location of criminal misfeasance, [and] immediately abandoned the Watson residence," the complaint said.
Jamal Watson suffered from ongoing cardiovascular problems as a consequence, the complaint said. The case was settled last year.
Sowell's death was the city's fourth fatal shooting among 16 officer-involved shootings this year, according to police statistics. In September, police shot and killed gunman Nicholas Glenn after a shooting rampage in West Philadelphia that left one woman dead and five people - including two police officers - injured. The first officer-involved shooting fatality was 19-year-old Quron Willis, who was shot by an off-duty police officer on April 9 after he allegedly tried to rob a stranger in Fern Rock. Richard Ferretti, 52, of Andreas, Pa., shot May 4 by a plainclothes officer in Overbrook.
The commissioner on Friday acknowledged that the volume of gunfire in the Sowell case was high.
He said it could have been a result of "contagious gunfire" under which "if there is one officer who reacts quicker than the rest and fires" and "other officers hear that gunfire, and they believe they are now under fire," they return fire.
Police said the bloodshed began shortly before 7 p.m. at Sowell's home, on the 6200 block of Hazel Avenue, when he choked his 12-year-old daughter, stabbed and slashed the throat of his 8-year-old son, and stabbed his son's 13-year-old friend several times in the chest. The girl suffered no major injuries; the boys were critically wounded and remained in critical condition Friday at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
A hospital spokeswoman would not provide an update Saturday of the children's conditions, citing privacy regulations. A police spokeswoman said she had not received an update.
Shortly after 7 p.m., Sowell ran to a family friend's home a few blocks away on Cobbs Creek Parkway. A 70-year-old woman who lived in the home allowed him in to get something to eat, police said. Sowell responded by taking a steak knife and cutting her throat, and beating another woman, 41, in the home.
The older woman, identified by a neighbor as Toni Finney, was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where she was in serious condition Saturday. The younger woman was taken to Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in stable condition.
Ross said Friday that the four victims remained hospitalized but were improving.
He said part of the reason responding officers may have opened fire on Sowell was because they believed they were looking for a gunman. The initial 911 call reported that shots had been fired inside the house on Hazel Avenue, Ross said, and that same information was broadcast over police radio.
When Sowell came out of the house on Cobbs Creek Parkway, Ross said, officers told him to take his hands out of his pockets several times. When he finally did, he raised his hands "abruptly" and the officers opened fire, Ross said.
Ross said police did not find a gun on Sowell, but police have said they found a cellphone next to his body. Two houses nearby were each pockmarked by dozens of bullet holes.
The shooting is being investigated by police Internal Affairs and will be reviewed by the District Attorney's Office. The officers involved have been placed on desk duty pending the outcome of the preliminary investigation.
Police and Sowell's relatives have said they believe his violent rampage was fueled by drugs.
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