A man who had voluntarily agreed to be taken to a psychiatric hospital by Philadelphia police grabbed an officer’s gun outside the facility and wounded him before being fatally shot by another officer, the city police commissioner said, noting the wounded officer’s bulletproof vest spared him from serious injury.
The shooting occurred shortly before 1 p.m. at Friends Hospital, Commissioner Kevin Bethel said. He said the two city officers had encountered the man earlier Thursday after he was seen walking in traffic, and he agreed to go to the hospital for a mental health evaluation.
The man was driven to the hospital in a police van but was not handcuffed because he had agreed to go voluntarily, Bethel said. As the officers were speaking with him after they arrived, the man became combative and attacked one of the officers.
One officer fired a Taser at the man, who continued to struggle as all three men fell to the ground. The man took an officer’s gun and started firing, wounding that officer, who was struck at the base of his vest.
The other officer shot the man multiple times, and he was taken to another hospital where he later died from his injuries. His name has not been released.
The second officer was not shot in the scuffle but did suffer an undisclosed injury. Both officers were treated at a third hospital and were later released.
Noting that the wounded officer was shot “very close to the bottom of his vest,” Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said the incident could have been much worse.
“But for an inch we could be here under a different set of circumstances and facts,” Parker said.