Off-duty cop shoots, kills robbery suspect

An off-duty Philadelphia police officer shot and killed a robbery suspect fleeing a stickup at a 7-Eleven on City Avenue this morning, authorities say.

The drama started on the Lower Merion side of the street and ended in a St. Joseph's University parking lot on the city side of the avenue.

6ABC reported that the officer and the gunman traded fire, but police have said nothing to indicate that.

According to police, a man later identified as Kenneth DeShields, of Philadelphia, walked into the 7-Eleven at Oakland Terrace and City Avenue in Lower Merion before 3 a.m. and announced a stickup.

Just as the robber left, the off-duty officer entered the store and the clerk told him he had just been robbed, police said.

The officer pursued the suspect across City Avenue to a parking lot behind a St. Joseph's University dorm on N. 53rd Street, police said.

The officer, who is assigned to the Highway Unit, announced he was a police officer, authorities said. When the man turned with something in his hand, the officer fired.

DeShields was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he died, police said. The officer was not hurt.

Police recovered a weapon at the scene.

The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office and Lower Merion police are leading the investigation.

Police closed City Avenue in the area until about 7:30 a.m. during their investigation.

Brian Clarke, a St. Joe's student who lives in the dorm, told CBS3 he heard five or six shots.

When he went outside, he saw the officer standing over the wounded suspect.

"The cops was saying, 'Don't make me shoot you again,' " the student said.

The officer will be placed on administrative duty while the Philadelphia police Internal Affairs Unit conducts an investigation, which is standard when officers are involved in a shooting.