A police officer was fatally shot and another was wounded after confronting people breaking into a car at Philadelphia International Airport Thursday night, officials said.
Two officers assigned to the airport had arrived at an airport parking garage for their shift just after 11 p.m. when they found “a few individuals breaking into another vehicle,” Interim Philadelphia Police Commissioner John M. Stanford said in a briefing.
At least two of the suspects then brought out guns and opened fire. One officer, 50, was struck multiple times in the upper torso while the other officer, 60, was hit in the arm, Stanford said.
Both were transported to a nearby hospital. The 50-year-old was transported again to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 11:34 p.m, Stanford said.
The other officer was transported to Jefferson University Hospital, where he was in stable condition.
Stanford did not name the officer who was killed but said he had served 22 years with the police force.
“The officer that was murdered tonight, he has one child, married with a child, and they are here at the hospital as you can imagine, heartbroken, devastated, that their family member is not coming home tonight,” Stanford said.
The injured officer also served 20 years with the police force.
Stanford said there was one individual transported from the scene by a private vehicle to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where that individual was pronounced dead.
“We can’t confirm at this time whether or not that individual is involved. We don’t know, it’s a good possibility. Very similar to the suspect description. We’re still investigating,” he said.
Stanford noted it’s a difficult time for the department as three officers were shot last week.
“You can imagine what we feel, what this department is going through and quite frankly, how the city should be feeling to know that this has happened to two of the men that served them for 20 plus years, and ultimately one giving his life tonight for the city of Philadelphia," he said.
An investigation into the shooting is ongoing. Stanford noted that one officer was in full uniform, the other in partial uniform, and it's unclear if the officers returned gunfire toward the suspects.
Terminals D and E were closed late Thursday due to the investigation, but have since reopened.
