By Robert Moran
The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia police officer was hospitalized in stable condition after being shot twice in the shoulder while responding to an armed robbery Tuesday night, police said.
During the chaos that ensued, the suspect allegedly shot a homeowner, then shot himself in the head. While transporting the suspect to the hospital, the police vehicle crashed into another car, leaving two more police officers injured.
All the injured people, including the suspect, were reported in stable condition, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told the media during a briefing outside Temple University Hospital.
Shortly after 10 p.m., a police officer responded to a reported armed robbery in the 400 block of Harlan Street in North Philadelphia, Outlaw said. While speaking to the victim, the officer spotted a man matching the description of the suspect. As the officer approached, the suspect fired at the officer, striking him twice.
The suspect then fled to the rear of a property on the 1400 block of North Lawrence Street. The homeowner flagged down other police responding to the area and was shot in the thigh by the suspect, Outlaw said.
“While the officers were closing in on the suspect, the suspect shot himself in the head,” Outlaw said, describing the suspect as being located in the alley between Lawrence and Leithgow streets.
The suspect was being transported by police to Temple Hospital when the police vehicle crashed into another car at the intersection of 10th and Oxford streets, Outlaw said. The two officers in the vehicle were taken to Temple.
WCAU-TV, Philadelphia’s NBC affiliate, broadcast video recorded from a helicopter showing the police vehicle rushing with lights and sirens into the intersection and striking another vehicle in the side.
Outlaw said no other suspects were being sought.
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