Suspect Armed with a Knife Shot after Advancing on Police
Officers responding to a domestic violence call at 3:50 pm today in the 6100 block of Locust Street in Philadelphia were confronted with a subject brandishing a knife at officers.
In bystander video, officers can be seen retreating from the approaching subject several times around a vehicle before the subject rounds the rear of a vehicle parked and lunges at two officers who are yelling instructions for the subject to drop the weapon. Both officers then appear to return fire, dropping the subject in the street.
Irate bystanders then appear to make it difficult for officers to check the suspect’s condition and render aid before the video cuts out. The suspect, later identified as Walter Wallace was later pronounced dead.
Mayor Jim Kenney when interviewed on the matter by local news stated “My prayers are with the family and friends of Walter Wallace. I have watched the video of this tragic incident and it presents difficult questions that must be answered,” said Kenney. “I spoke tonight with Mr. Wallace’s family, and will continue to reach out to hear their concerns first-hand, and to answer their questions to the extent that I am able.”
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office released this statement on the shooting: “The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office takes its obligation to try to be fair and to seek evenhanded justice seriously. The DAO Special Investigations Unit responded to today’s fatal shooting of a civilian by police shortly after it occurred and has been on the scene with other DAO personnel since that time investigating, as we do jointly with the PPD Officer-Involved Shooting Investigation Unit, in shootings and fatalities by other means involving police. We intend to go where the facts and law lead us and to do so carefully, without rushing to judgment and without bias of any kind.
As is now a regular occurrence after incidents around the country, even when clearly justified self-defense by officers, protestors have gathered at the site to denounce the police, some stating that the police should have used non-lethal tasers to subdue a suspect armed with a deadly weapon.
we just lost another person in west philly today at the hands of the police. not linking the footage here for people's well being but i saw it and it's exactly what you think — multiple cops who were not in harm's way shot a man til he dropped and then some. this is horrifying https://t.co/299s0hK1mj
— Maddie Rose ☭ (@uliveinasociety) October 26, 2020
