A man claiming allegiance to the ISIS group shot and seriously wounded a policeman in Philadelphia, opening fire multiple times at point-blank range with a stolen police gun before he was arrested, of
A man claiming allegiance to the ISIS group shot and seriously wounded a policeman in Philadelphia, opening fire multiple times at point-blank range with a stolen police gun before he was arrested, officials have said.
The apparent assassination attempt comes amid heightened security in the United States following December’s assault by a radicalised Muslim couple in California that killed 14 people, and the November terror attacks in Paris.
Policeman Jesse Hartnett, 33, was shot three times in his left arm as he sat in his patrol car late Thursday in the northeastern city.
“I’m shot. I’m bleeding heavily,” he yelled in a dispatch call.Authorities said they were astonished he survived.Philadelphia police commissioner Richard Ross on Friday called the attack “absolutely chilling” and described the officer’s injuries as “very, very serious”.
Stills captured from video surveillance and released to the press show the suspect opening fire as he walks towards the patrol car, extending his arm into the vehicle and then continuing to fire as he flees on foot.
“If that doesn’t just make the hairs on your neck just rise when you see that, it’s scary,” Mr Ross told reporters.
The officer got out of his vehicle, despite being injured, and managed to return fire, hitting the suspect, who was quickly arrested.
“He stated that he pledges his allegiance to Islamic State (ISIS), follows Allah and that is the reason he was called upon to do this,” homicide police Captain James Clark told a press conference.
The police said the suspect, 30-year-old Edward Archer, has a criminal record, but it was unclear whether he acted alone.
