A Philadelphia police officer shot a man who was walking around Point Breeze with a rifle after refusing to let a city inspector inside a home Wednesday morning, authorities said.
Just before 11 a.m., an employee from the Department of Licenses and Inspections showed up to a property on the 1900 block of Morris Street accompanied by two Sheriff’s Office deputies to conduct a court-ordered inspection, officials said.
A 36-year-old man holding a rifle equipped with a scope answered the door, refused to let them inside and walked out of the home, Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore told media crews at the scene.
The sheriff’s officers alerted PPD of the situation over police radio, a spokesperson for the department said.
Vanore said the man walked east on Morris, south on 18th Street and east on Moore Street. Officers caught up to him on the 1600 block of Moore, near Chadwick Street, nearly four blocks from the home, investigators said.
Police ordered him to drop the rifle, and, when he turned toward law enforcement, one officer who responded to the situation fired his weapon, according to Vanore. The man was struck in his right side, and officers took him to a local hospital in critical condition, police added.
“It just happened very quickly, and the officers that were here took the necessary action to keep everyone else in the area safe,” Vanore said.
Vanore did not say how many shots were fired. No officers or members of the public were injured, according to the PPD.
City records indicate the Morris Street rowhome was declared unsafe in October and slated for demolition by Licenses and Inspection if mandated repairs were not completed. Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration and L&I referred questions to police.
The incident is being investigated by the PPD Internal Affairs Division and the District Attorney’s Office, he added.
