By Robert Moran
Source The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA — One Philadelphia police officer was killed and a second was injured when they were both shot as they approached several men who appeared to be breaking into a vehicle in a parking garage at Philadelphia International Airport late Thursday night, police said.
The officers were off-duty but about to start their work shift at the airport, said Interim Police Commissioner John Stanford.
The double shooting was reported just after 11 p.m. in the Terminal D parking garage, Stanford said at a news briefing.
Suspects in the shooting are still at large.
A 50-year-old officer with 22 years on the force was shot several times in the upper torso, Stanford said. The officer, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center at 11:34 p.m.
Stanford said he was married with one child. The officer’s family members were at the hospital and “heartbroken, devastated,” he said.
The second officer, who is 60 years old, was wounded in the arm. He was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition, Stanford said.
“Please wrap your arms and prayers around their families and our department,” Stanford posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, early Friday morning. “We will continue our search for those responsible and won’t stop until all are in custody!”
A short time before Stanford’s briefing outside Penn Presbyterian, police said one or more of the shooters had fled from the shooting scene at the airport in a black 2022 Dodge Durango, which was later determined to be stolen with a license plate of “PLUSTAX.”
Shortly after the shooting, a black Dodge Durango dropped off an 18-year-old man at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia with two gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead.
Stanford said they had not yet confirmed that the vehicle and deceased man were involved in the shooting of the officers.
One of the officers was in full uniform and the second was in partial uniform, Stanford said.
The interim commissioner noted that three officers were shot just last week in the city’s Rhawnhurst section.
A gun belonging to one of the off-duty officers may have been taken from the shooting scene, police said earlier.
Airport officials posted an advisory on social media announcing that Terminal D and the Terminal D parking garage were closed due to the police investigation. Just after 12:30 a.m., the airport announced that the terminal had been reopened, but the parking garage remained closed.
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