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Trial ordered in shooting of officers

More than a dozen police officers descended on the East Frankford crack house the evening of Nov. 13, ready to make a bust.

More than a dozen police officers descended on the East Frankford crack house the evening of Nov. 13, ready to make a bust.

Sgt. James Schuck said he knocked on the door and announced: "Police! Search warrant!" There was no answer, he said. Another officer then banged the door with a battering ram.

Inside, 16-year-old Donyea Phillips grabbed a pistol, and when he heard a second bang on the door, he began firing through a window, according to an alleged confession read in court yesterday.

Two officers were shot - one in a hip and the other in a thigh. Phillips said he heard moaning outside and then somebody saying: "I got you! Hang in there!"

One officer fired back, but police retreated and a dramatic standoff began. It ended several hours later when Phillips surrendered.

After listening to testimony, Municipal Court Judge Marsha Neifield yesterday held Phillips for trial on 13 counts of attempted murder and related offenses.

The shooting occurred less than two weeks after Officer Chuck Cassidy was fatally wounded when he walked into a robbery.

Phillips' attorney, Lonny Fish, said his client did not know police were on the other side of the door when he unleashed his barrage of eight bullets.

Assistant District Attorney Namratha Ravikant said Phillips heard officers identify themselves and chose not to respond until "he answered with gunshots."

During the standoff, police said, Phillips' mother called police to say her son had called, that he feared he may have shot police, and that he wanted to give up.

Police delayed resolving the standoff because there were other people in the building at 2031 Orthodox St.

Also charged with attempted murder and related offenses is Phillips' cousin Troy Zimmerman, 22, who allegedly was squatting and selling drugs with Phillips in the empty unit of the converted rowhouse.

Police recovered more than 60 plastic packets of crack cocaine from the residence.