PHILADELPHIA, PA – A violent incident unfolded at the Philadelphia International Airport on Thursday night, resulting in the death of one police officer and the injury of another. The officers, who were off-duty at the time, were ambushed in the airport’s parking garage while attempting to disrupt a suspected car burglary.
The officers, aged 50 and 60, were arriving for their shift around 11 p.m. when they noticed suspicious activity in the parking garage. As they approached the individuals believed to be breaking into a vehicle, they were met with gunfire. The younger officer was hit multiple times in the upper torso and later succumbed to his injuries at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. The older officer was shot in the arm and is currently in stable condition at Jefferson Hospital, after initially being taken to Methodist Hospital.
The fallen officer, a 22-year veteran of the force and a family man, leaves behind a wife and child. The interim commissioner, John Stanford, expressed the department’s grief, stating that the family is “heartbroken and devastated” and that the department is going through a “numb moment.”
Details about the suspects remain unclear. One individual, possibly connected to the incident, was reported to have left the scene in a private vehicle. However, this information has yet to be confirmed.
The shooting led to the temporary closure of the airport’s Terminal D and the parking garage for Terminals D and E. Five planes were also held at the airport, with passengers kept onboard for approximately 30 minutes. Normal operations resumed at the garage around 7 a.m. Friday morning.