Two men pleaded guilty to the killing of Philly SWAT Cpl. James O’Connor IV in 2020
Hassan Elliott fatally shot O'Connor while trying to avoid arrest with Khalif Sears, both of whom were wanted for murder.
Two men pleaded guilty Wednesday to murder and racketeering charges in the fatal shooting of Philadelphia SWAT Cpl. James O’Connor IV, admitting that the 2020 killing was part of a string of crimes they committed to advance the interests of a violent, Frankford-based drug gang.
Hassan Elliott, 26, and Khalif Sears, 23, said little as they entered their pleas before U.S. District Judge Juan Sanchez.
O’Connor’s widow, Terri, said the proceedings were nonetheless difficult to sit through, as the shooting death of her husband, a 46-year-old father of two, had “ruined our lives.”
The crime “was unfair,” she said afterward while fighting back tears, robbing O’Connor of time with his family. She said she used to look forward to celebrating occasions such as birthdays or anniversaries, but now views them as reminders of how long it’s been since her husband was killed.
Elliott shot O’Connor by firing more than a dozen rifle shots through the door of a Frankford apartment as O’Connor and other SWAT officers sought to arrest him on a murder warrant.
Sears didn’t shoot at police but took part in the earlier killing with Elliott. And the two men were hiding out together in the cramped, drug-filled apartment when Elliott — seeking to avoid apprehension — started firing shots toward the SWAT team.
In addition to killing O’Connor, prosecutors said, Elliott, Sears, and several other men were part of a gang known as SG1700 that committed a host of other crimes throughout Frankford. In 2018 and 2019, prosecutors said, gang members including Elliott or Sears killed three other men and shot nine more people — all to protect or advance the interests of their gang, whose members sold crack and marijuana.
In exchange for pleading guilty, prosecutors recommended that Elliott — who had been scheduled to go to trial next month — receive a sentence of between 55 and 75 years.
They said Sears should face a sentence of 35 to 50 years.
Sanchez said he would determine the penalties at hearings this spring. The judge largely refrained from commenting on the facts of the case, but did tell Sears that his crimes were “heinous” and said he would take that into consideration when imposing a sentence.
Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel attended Wednesday’s court hearing, along with dozens of O’Connor’s fellow officers, relatives, and friends.
Bethel said that SWAT officers are often asked to take on the department’s most dangerous assignments, and that “the way to honor [O’Connor’s] service is to get justice for him.”
Why did Elliott shoot O’Connor?
Elliott and Sears were arrested on the morning of March 13, 2020, shortly after Elliott shot O’Connor inside the apartment building on the 1600 block of Bridge Street.
SWAT officers had gone to that address to arrest Elliott in the 2019 slaying of Tyrone Tyree on the 5300 block of Duffield Street. Authorities had issued arrest warrants months earlier for both Elliott and Sears in connection with that crime.
As SWAT officers sought out Elliott and climbed a flight of stairs inside his apartment building, he heard them, then grabbed a .22-caliber rifle and began shooting through a bedroom door, striking O’Connor in the neck and arm. Officer Patrick Saba returned fire, hitting Sears and a man who was in a separate bedroom at the front of the apartment, police said at the time.
O’Connor was taken to Temple University Hospital and declared dead not long afterward. He was a son and father of city police officers, and his daughter was in the Air Force. He had also become a grandfather for the first time just a few months earlier, his wife said.
Elliott, meanwhile, was taken into custody, along with Sears and two other men who were inside the apartment: Bilal Mitchell and Sherman Easterling. Police found 10 guns in the room, as well as crack cocaine and drug packaging materials, prosecutors said.
The case quickly became engulfed in controversy when then-U.S. Attorney William McSwain blamed District Attorney Larry Krasner for O’Connor’s death. Krasner’s office had dropped a drug case against Elliott a year before O’Connor was shot, something McSwain said demonstrated Krasner’s leniency toward accused criminals.
Krasner said the fate of the drug case was not significant because his office had simultaneously approved a murder warrant for Elliott when the narcotics prosecution fell apart.
McSwain later filed federal charges against Elliott and the three others who were inside the Frankford apartment when he shot O’Connor, accusing them of murder, possessing illegal weapons, and dealing drugs.
What other crimes did they commit?
Three years after that, McSwain’s successor, U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero, announced an expanded racketeering case against Elliott and Sears — as well as two other men, Kelvin Jiminez and Dominique Parker — saying they were part of the drug trafficking gang known as SG1700. They were charged with participating in four murders, including O’Connor’s, nine shootings, and a host of drug offenses.
The other killings were of Kaseem Rogers on Dec. 3, 2018; Tyrone Tyree on March 1, 2019; and Dontae Walker on Aug. 22, 2019.
Prosecutors said Elliott shot Rogers, a perceived rival also known as Glizzy, after they exchanged insults on social media. Elliott and Sears fatally shot Tyree while trying to rob him as he bought drugs from them, prosecutors said. And Elliott and three others killed Walker, they said, in retaliation for an earlier shooting of a fellow SG1700 member.
Gang members frequently boasted about their violent acts, prosecutors said, creating music videos and social media posts that taunted their enemies. And after his arrest, prosecutors said, Elliott wrote the names of some of his victims, including O’Connor, on the wall of his jail cell.
Two of the codefendants charged as part of the racketeering case, Jiminez and Parker, are still awaiting trial.
Elliott and Sears are scheduled to be sentenced at the end of April.