Man fatally shot by police in Kensington after allegedly firing at officers

An unidentified man was fatally shot by police after he allegedly fired shots at two officers during a large neighborhood fight in the city’s Kensington section Thursday evening.

The man, described as in his late 40s or early 50s, was shot in the shoulder and abdomen just before 6:30 p.m. on the 3000 block of North Water Street near Clearfield Street, said Chief Inspector Scott Small. The man was transported by police to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:30.

The officers were undercover as part of a long-term narcotics investigation and were sitting inside an unmarked Nissan when the fight broke out, Small said. Some of the people involved in the fight jostled up against the unmarked vehicle and then the officers saw the man allegedly pull out a gun.

Small said the officers got out of the vehicle and identified themselves as police. The man then allegedly fired at least two shots into the crowd and in the direction of the officers, who then returned fire.

The officers were not injured. A woman later claimed she had been shot in the arm. She was taken by medics to Temple and medical staff determined she had not been shot, Small said.

Police recovered a semi-automatic handgun from the scene and two spent shell casings believed to be from that firearm, Small said.

The shooting by the officers is under internal investigation.