Philadelphia police officers chase down shooting, robbery suspects

His left elbow was pierced and bleeding from a .38-caliber slug fired by a suspected robber, but Officer Mark S. Uffelman, 52 - a trophy-winning long-distance runner - wasn't about to lose.

He gave chase and within seconds corralled the suspect, pinning him to the ground early yesterday morning in South Philadelphia.

Uffelman's partner, 35-year-old Dave McAndrews, came through, too: He grabbed the suspect's accomplice, who police said was armed with a loaded 9mm handgun.

Both officers - Uffelman is a 29-year department veteran and McAndrews has served for 10 - are sons of former city officers. The two men they arrested, Rakin Munir Thabit, 42, and Jonathan Massa, 22, are ex-convicts from Camden.

"Despite being shot, he took off running after this guy," Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said of Uffelman as he called both officers heroes. "It's just a tremendous job. It showed a lot of courage."

The two officers, speaking at a news conference yesterday afternoon at Police Headquarters in Center City, seemed uncomfortable with the attention.

Uffelman, with a bandage covering his wound, downplayed the seriousness of his injury and his actions. Police said Thabit fired all six shots from his .38-caliber revolver at Uffelman, who was struck once.

"It really didn't hurt that bad," said Uffelman. "Once the guy took off . . . I just was determined I was going to run him down. . . . I was aware I was being fired upon. I didn't know where the bullets were going. . . . I was pretty fortunate."

He showed little emotion until he spoke of his father, Charles Uffelman, who was killed during a carjacking Oct. 13, 1978, while off-duty. His voice cracked and he paused when asked about the badge he carries - it belonged to his dad.

He also spoke about his mother, Joan Uffelman, 78, of Eastwick. He had insisted to other investigating officers that he call her himself rather than have police wake her in the middle of the night as they did when his father died.

Said his mother in an interview: "I had the knock on the door before, and I guess he knew that."

He called her at 7 a.m., an hour after she saw the shooting on the news.

"It didn't hit me until after I talked to him. Then I got really upset," she said. "But he said it didn't damage him, didn't damage the nerves."

Uffelman and McAndrews are assigned to the Third District in South Philadelphia, but were working plainclothes on a task force created to find the robber who killed Beau Zabel, 23, an aspiring teacher from Minnesota.

Zabel was robbed of his iPod and shot in the neck with a 9mm gun about 1:30 a.m. June 15 on Ellsworth Street, near Eighth Street, the same neighborhood where Uffelman was shot.

Homicide Capt. James Clark said detectives would compare evidence in the two cases, including ballistic reports, to determine whether they are connected.

Yesterday's incident also began about 1:30 a.m. when McAndrews spotted a robbery at Eighth and Fitzwater Streets. A man in his 20s was on the ground with two robbers standing over him, at least one with a gun pointed at the victim's neck.

The gunmen fled when the officers arrived, said Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman. The officers put the victim in the police car as they pursued the gunmen.

McAndrews said his partner took off running as he drove.

The victim, who police later said was on his way home from a party, begged the officers not to leave him alone. Ramsey said Uffelman yelled to his partner to stay with the victim.

When the shooting began, McAndrews said, he did not know whether Uffelman was hit.

Uniformed officers arrived, and McAndrews pointed them in the direction where the other man ran. McAndrews then tried to get to his partner.

By then, Uffelman said, the gunman had thrown his weapon over a fence - it was later recovered - and tried to hide under a car. Uffelman then dragged him from his lair.

McAndrews rounded the corner at Eighth and Christian Streets and cornered the alleged accomplice, who denied he was one of the robbers.

"I recognized him right away," said McAndrews, who had a uniformed officer handcuff the suspect as he tried again to get to Uffelman. Uffelman, however, was rushed to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

The two suspects were taken into custody. Thabit, who was paroled in 1996, served time for the sexual assault and kidnapping of a stranded motorist in New Jersey, court records show.

Massa served time for weapons and drug offenses and was released from prison in 2006.

Uffelman has participated in international marathons here and in Ireland. He holds the record as fastest officer to compete in the 10-mile Broad Street Run, finishing in 56:38. As Ramsey noted: "He's in incredible shape."

His mother said that her son was almost turned down by the Police Academy because of a low heart rate that he explained came from being a long-distance runner.

"I mean, of all people for [the suspect] to try to run from," the commissioner said.

In the neighborhood, some residents expressed concern at the recent violence.

"It makes me nervous," said Emma Segal, 23. "You hear it everywhere else, but never here."

Mike Thomas D'Addesi said he had been a bartender at Vesuvio's restaurant at Eighth and Fitzwater for the last two years and had never seen anything as bad as the last two confrontations.

But, he added, "this is the city."