Investigators say the man and an officer each fired one shot during a confrontation outside a home on Webster Street.
PHILADELPHIA, PA — A 75-year-old man was killed Tuesday morning after an exchange of gunfire with Philadelphia police outside a home in West Philadelphia, authorities said, setting off a criminal review by prosecutors and an internal department investigation into whether the shooting was justified.
Police said the confrontation happened just after 7 a.m. on the 5400 block of Webster Street in the city’s Cobbs Creek section. The man was later identified as Anthony McKinley, a longtime resident whom neighbors said was a familiar and steady presence on the block. Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said officers had been sent to the address after a report of a person with a weapon, and another report indicated a family might be in danger inside the home. McKinley was struck once and taken by an officer’s partner to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 7:33 a.m. No officers or other civilians were reported hurt.
The shooting unfolded within moments of the officers’ arrival, according to the police account released Tuesday. Vanore said two officers from the 18th District responded to the call and found McKinley on the porch of an occupied house with a handgun. One officer got out of the vehicle and approached him. Vanore said “a very quick confrontation” followed. Police radio captured the sound of a gunshot as officers arrived, and investigators said two shots were fired in all. Authorities said McKinley and the officer each fired once, though early public statements differed on who shot first. In one account later Tuesday, Vanore said police believed McKinley fired first before the officer returned fire. In other public remarks, police said they were still working to determine the order of the shots. That unresolved point is likely to be central as investigators review body-camera video, radio traffic and forensic evidence from the scene.
Officials released only limited details about what happened between the officer and McKinley in the seconds before the gunfire. Vanore said the officer took cover after the shot was fired and that the officers then returned fire, hitting McKinley once. A handgun was recovered from McKinley, police said. The officer who fired was identified by local outlets, citing police, as a 26-year-old woman assigned to the 18th District with about three years on the force. Her name had not been released publicly by late Tuesday, and police did not say whether she had any prior shooting history with the department. Authorities also said other people were on the property when officers arrived, but none of them were injured. One important piece of evidence appears to exist: Vanore said the officer’s body camera was activated during the encounter. Investigators also asked neighbors to provide any doorbell or surveillance video that might help fill in the short but crucial gap between the officers’ arrival and the shots.
The setting added to the shock for people on Webster Street. McKinley was not described by neighbors as a stranger or a transient presence but as someone woven into the rhythm of the block. Crystal Harris told local television that it was “a sad day for Webster Street” and said McKinley, whom she called Tony, had been kind. Pete Hutton, another neighbor, said he had lived there for decades and described McKinley as a good man. Shihee Hatchett said McKinley would often sit outside in the morning, drink coffee and feed birds, and said he had never shown signs of aggression. Another nearby resident said the shooting happened right in front of her home. Sheryl Gray, who lives two doors away, said she heard two shots close together while getting ready for an appointment. Those accounts do not answer what happened in the confrontation itself, but they show why the shooting quickly became more than a police matter on the block: it was also the sudden death of a well-known older neighbor in full public view.
The next steps in Philadelphia follow a set process that runs on two tracks at once. The District Attorney’s Office Special Investigations Unit reviews every law-enforcement firearm discharge in the city to determine whether a shooting was justified under criminal law. In fatal cases, the office says a prosecutor goes immediately to the scene to begin that work. At the same time, the police department’s Officer Involved Shooting Investigation Unit examines the incident for possible criminal findings inside the department’s case process, while Internal Affairs reviews whether the officer’s conduct complied with policy. The Citizens Police Oversight Commission is also notified and reviews police shootings as part of the city’s oversight structure. City documents say investigators assess physical evidence, audio and video, and witness accounts, and that officers who fired are removed from street duty while the reviews continue. Police said the officer in Tuesday’s shooting has been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome.
That process can take time, and several questions remained open Tuesday night. Police had not said what, if anything, McKinley did before officers arrived besides allegedly being armed on the porch. Authorities had not explained whether anyone inside the house was actually being held against their will, even though one early report to dispatch referenced a family being held hostage. Police also had not publicly described the distance between McKinley and the officer, whether commands were given, whether McKinley pointed the weapon, or whether any attempt was made to slow the encounter before deadly force was used. The city’s publicly posted 2026 list of police shootings had last been updated in early January, so this case was not yet reflected there by Tuesday. That means the fuller official summary, if one is released later, will probably come after the initial reviews are completed and prosecutors and police investigators sort out the sequence, witness statements and video evidence.
For residents of the block, the official investigation will move on one timeline and neighborhood grief on another. By midday Tuesday, technicians were cleaning the scene while neighbors traded fragments of what they heard and saw. Some focused on the narrow time frame, saying the whole episode seemed to happen almost as soon as police arrived. Others focused on the man they knew rather than the account emerging from police headquarters. Those two versions of the morning — one built from radio calls, body-camera footage and firearms evidence, the other from years of sidewalk familiarity and porch conversations — now meet in an inquiry that will decide whether the officer’s use of deadly force was lawful and within policy. Until then, the shooting stands as both a fatal police encounter and a neighborhood loss that many on Webster Street said they were still struggling to understand by the end of the day.
The case remained under investigation Tuesday night, with police and prosecutors reviewing body-camera footage, witness accounts and the recovered gun. The next public milestone is expected to be a police update later this week, followed by eventual findings from the District Attorney’s Office and the department’s internal review process.
Author note: Last updated April 8, 2026.