Suspect killed, three Philadelphia police officers shot while serving a warrant

Three Philadelphia police officers were shot while executing a warrant in North Philadelphia on Wednesday morning, police said, and the 19-year-old suspect was killed in a gun battle that followed.

First Deputy Commissioner John Stanford said that shortly after 6 a.m., the suspect, who was wanted for a homicide that occurred in August, shot at officers numerous times through the door and window as they attempted to serve a warrant for his arrest on the 800 block of North 10th Street.

Stanford said the man, later identified as Raheem Lee, attempted to flee out the back of the home, and again shot at SWAT officers positioned outside. Police returned fire. Lee was shot in the head and hand, police said. He was taken to the Temple University Hospital, where he died at 7:32 a.m.

Within minutes, the injured officers — all decades-long veterans of the force — were rushed to Jefferson Hospital.

“We got two SWAT officers shot,” an officer said over the dispatch. “Let them know I’m shot in the hip, my partner’s shot in the leg.”

Another officer, a 27-year veteran, was struck in the chest but was wearing a bulletproof vest that deflected the bullet. Two of the three officers were released from the hospital by early afternoon.

One remained hospitalized in stable condition Wednesday evening.

In a statement, District Attorney Larry Krasner said Lee was wanted for the fatal shooting of Theodore Bell in late August and had been a fugitive since then. Bell, 34, was found dead inside a car in North Philadelphia, with gunshot wounds to the neck.

Krasner said Bell had a connection to Lee’s family, but he did not explain what it was.

Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore said Wednesday that Lee had been arrested more than once as a juvenile, but he declined to say how many times, on what charges, or whether he had been adjudicated delinquent in any of the cases. Vanore said Lee was also a suspect in several recent armed robberies in North Philadelphia.

Five days ago, in a separate incident, officers in North Philadelphia were ambushed by a man who police said shot at officers at near point-blank range. None of the officers was injured, and the suspect was later apprehended and charged with aggravated assault and related offenses.

In a statement, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said she is “beyond disgusted by this violence.” Outlaw was in Dallas on Wednesday for the Major Cities Chiefs Conference.

“It is NOT the job of our officers to be shot at,” she said. “It is not their job to be stabbed, spat upon, accosted or attacked in any way. And this type of violence towards our police — towards anyone — cannot continue to be normalized.”

Outlaw spared no words when sharing her frustration with what she described as little accountability for those who commit additional crimes after an arrest.

“We are tired of arresting the same suspects over and over again, only to see them right back out on the street to continue and sometimes escalate their criminal ways,” she said. “We are tired of having to send our officers into harm’s way to serve warrants on suspects who have no business being on the street in the first place.

“Our entire department is sickened by what is happening to the people that live, work, and visit our city,” she said. “Residents are tired of it. Business owners are tired of it. Our children are tired of it.”

While Krasner said he was relieved and thankful that the injured officers were expected to survive, he recognized the dangerous work that police officers face daily.

“It is never lost on me, or any of the more than 275 prosecutors in my office, that our cases rely heavily on the investigative work of police and on the highly dangerous duty they have to apprehend criminal suspects in a society where guns outnumber people,” he said in a statement. “We are grateful for the bravery and selflessness of Philadelphia Police officers and other law enforcement officers in our partner agencies.”

Mayor Jim Kenney again lamented the state and federal gun laws that he said are too lax.

“It’s a disgrace,” he said. “The flow of guns in this state is relentless and must stop.”

The man police were seeking to arrest Wednesday was inside a unit at the Richard Allen homes, a public housing complex owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority. Police said it was not a known address for him, but he was suspected of being there.

Elaine Fowler, a 12-year Richard Allen resident, was about to eat a breakfast doughnut when she heard multiple gunshots. She dropped to the ground.

”That was a rude awakening,” she said. “That much shooting and not knowing where it’s coming from. I didn’t know it was right here.”

Fowler said the shooting scared her but also angered her because of the environment many children have to grow up in.

State Rep. Malcom Kenyatta, a Democrat from North Philadelphia, said in a statement Wednesday that the city should declare a state of emergency on its gun violence crisis, and that the legislature should pass gun-safety legislation and invest in addressing the root causes of violence.

“Every time a member of law enforcement puts on their uniform as my aunt used to do, they take on huge risks to try and keep us all safe,” Kenyatta said. “This gun crime crisis is a scourge on our city and I know has shaken the Richard Allen community to its foundations.”

News researcher Ryan Briggs contributed to this article.