Police fatally shot a man in Northeast Philly. They believe he shot someone in Bucks County.
Police said the 29-year-old man crashed his car while trying to evade police, then ran across traffic and fired shots at officers as he continued trying to run away.
A man suspected of shooting someone in Bucks County on Wednesday afternoon was fatally shot by police in Northeast Philadelphia after officers pursued him on I-95 and into the city, authorities said.
Sgt. Eric Gripp, a Philadelphia Police spokesperson, said the 29-year-old man was killed during a shootout with police at a Sunoco station at Whitaker and Adams Avenues in the city’s Crescentville section around 3:15 p.m. According to Gripp, the man — whom he did not identify — crashed his car while trying to evade police, then ran across traffic and fired shots at officers as he continued trying to run away.
At least one Philadelphia officer fired a shot in return, Gripp said, as did an officer from Bucks County. The man was struck in the head and pronounced dead at the scene.
Gripp did not say which officer’s shot killed the man, and did not identify the officers who opened fire.
The series of events began around 2:40 p.m. in Middletown Township, where Gripp said police responded to a report of a disturbance at the Racquet Club Apartments on the 2000 block of Veterans Highway. Officers heard a gunshot, Gripp said, then saw the man get into a car and drive away.
Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub said that victim survived, but was taken to St. Mary Medical Center in serious condition.
Meanwhile, Gripp said officers from several Bucks jurisdictions were already together due to an unrelated shootout in Yardley on Wednesday afternoon. When police called for backup in pursuit of the Middletown shooting suspect, officers involved in the Yardley investigation — from Middletown, Lower Makefield Township, and Lower Southampton — joined in the pursuit of the fleeing shooting suspect, Gripp said, chasing after him as he drove south on I-95 toward the city.
Gripp said the man got off the highway and crashed his car near Whitaker Avenue around 3:13 p.m. He then got out of the vehicle, Gripp said, started running, and fired shots at police as he headed toward the gas station, where he was fatally shot by officers who returned fire.
Gripp said no other injuries to police or bystanders were reported.
Southbound traffic was temporarily closed on Roosevelt Boulevard between Summerdale Avenue and C Street due to the investigation.