Wounded Officer Dies

KYW Newsradio Team Coverage

by KYW's Al Novack, Tony Hanson, Mike DeNardo, Paul Kurtz, and Ian Bush
 
Philadelpia police officer Charles Cassidy died Thursday morning at 9:40am at Albert Einstein Medical Center, less than 24 hours after he was rushed there with a gunshot wound of the head.

Police did not have anyone in custody as of Wednesday morning. 
 
The shooting of Officer Cassidy was the second shooting in about 12 hours (see related story) and the third in four days in which a Philadelphia police officer was shot in the line of duty. Following several hours of surgery, he was listed in extremely critical condition.
 
This latest shooting happened about 10:30am Wednesday on North Broad Street near 66th Avenue, in West Oak Lane, during an apparent robbery at a Dunkin Donuts store (watch surveillance video).

Police and witnesses say Cassidy routinely stopped at this Dunkin Donuts as part of his patrol. People there knew him by name.

But as he walked to the door on Wednesday morning, he happened onto a robbery in progress. And sources familiar with a security video of the incident (left) say the officer appeared to reach for his weapon when he was shot in the head and fell to the ground. The man took the officer's gun and fled.

One woman who was at the drive-through window of the doughnut shop when the shooting occurred says she heard cursing and demands for money, then the single shot.
   
Police were hunting the gunman, whom they describe as a heavy -set  African-American male, seen running from the scene of the shooting.
 
Cassidy, a 35th District police officer, was rushed to Albert Einstein Medical Center's emergency room. Police commissioner Sylvester Johnson (right) says Cassidy was shot in the head.

Listen to statements from Mayor Street and Commissioner Johnson at far right above.

Police officials say Cassidy (right) is a 25-year veteran of the Philadelphia police force, and a married father of three.
 
Police say the suspect, wearing a dark colored hoodie, tan pants, and tan boots, may be armed with the officer's service revolver and was last seen running west on 66th Avenue. After police reviewed surveillance video from the doughnut shop, the suspect was further described as about 20 years old, 5' 11" to 6' 0" tall, with a medium complexion, "shadow" beard, and a spider web tattoo on his left hand.

In the moments after the shooting, hundreds of police officers scoured the surrounding neighborhood in search of the gunman. 
 
SWAT teams with guns drawn searched every alley, behind every bush, and in doorway where the gunman could have been hiding.  

James Smith, 51, found himself in the middle of a massive manhunt in his West Oak Lane neighborhood:
  
"When the police officer said, 'You might want to take that hooded sweatshirt off or you'll get shot,'   I said, 'I think I'll go inside and take it off.' "
    
(DeNardo:)  "An officer really said that to you?"
    
(Smith:) "Yeah, well, he was giving me friendly advice -- with a gun in his hand, but he was not playing around.  He was serious."
    
Smith says with someone who would shoot a cop on the loose, he's not sure he feels safe in his own neighborhood.
 
Several streets in the vicinity were shut down during the search. Following up on information and reports of sightings, police converged on several homes in the neighborhood of 19th and Haines, forcibly entering at least one.

Police set up a perimeter for many blocks around the shooting scene. Every vehicle going into or out of that zone was being thoroughly searched by police.
 
Later, in the 7000 block of North 15th Street, police found an abandoned white Cadillac with some clothing inside that matches that original description of what the gunman was wearing.

About 12:30pm, according to radio reports, police took two men into custody who were was found hiding in the bushes on the 1600 block of West Haines Street. But it was not immediately known if either of them was the gunman. Police also recovered a handgun but it was not known whether that weapon was connected to this shooting.

The Philadelphia School District said at least 54 schools were in lockdown during the manhunt but students were being allowed to leave at normal dismissal times. Five Archdiocesan schools were also in lockdown until the regular end of the school day. LaSalle Unversity also locked down its campus and canceled all classes until 5pm.

In all, well over 100 preschools, day care centers, elementary and high schools reported they were taking precautions -- many locked down virtually or otherwise.
  

Additional AP Story

KYW's Mike Dunn reports that in the wake of this latest police officer shooting -- the third in the past week -- the man who is likely to be the next mayor of Philadelphia was voicing outrage.

Democratic candidate Michael Nutter has for months been calling on Mayor Street to declare a crime emergency, something Street has rejected.
 
Nutter (in file photo at right) says these latest shootings of police officers make it more urgent:
 
"I think Stevie Wonder would see, or José Feliciano would see, that there's obviously a problem here. We have people who are actively and aggressively taking on the Philadelphia Police Department. These are not the only three officers who have been shot this year. This is an ongoing pattern of behavior."

Nutter's crime plan includes better oversight of repeat offenders and parole violators, and he says these latest police shootings are cases in point:
   
"I will not be surprised in the least if the individual who shot the officer this morning, or the one from last night, who I guess has been found in the river, all have previous criminal records, probably should have not been on the streets of the city in the first place. So paying attention to these individuals on the front end is going to help prevent many of these tragedies on the back end."
    
Nutter repeated his controversial plan to stop and frisk people for illegal firearms that he believes are often at the center of such shootings (see related story).