PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Two police officers on security detail were shot and wounded during the Fourth of July festivities in Philadelphia on Monday night.
The shooting happened just after 9:45 p.m. in the 2500 block of Spring Garden as the fireworks display was still underway.
Sources tell Action News that they believe the gunfire erupted from a location in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art but behind the main stage on Eakins Oval.
Attendees at the celebration could be seen running down the Ben Franklin Parkway after the gunfire erupted.
A 36-year-old Philadelphia police department highway patrol officer was grazed in the forehead. He’s been on the force for 14 years.
A photo shared by president of FOP Lodge #5 John McNesby showed a bullet lodged in the officer’s hat.
“It is miraculous that the round stopped in his hat. It initially, I think, went up the inside, hit his forehead, and then the round stopped in his hat,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said during a news conference shortly after midnight Tuesday.
The second officer, a 44-year-old Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputy assigned to the bomb squad task force, sustained a graze wound to the right shoulder. The sheriff’s deputy, a 16-year veteran, was assisting Philadelphia police, as law enforcement from surrounding counties often do during large events in the city.
Both officers were transported to Jefferson University Hospital where they were treated and released early Tuesday morning.
Highway patrol and other officers from Philadelphia police were in formation outside the hospital, saluting and clapping out the injured officers as they went home to recover.
One of the injured officers could be seen with a bandage on his head.
The names of those officers have not been released.
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Outlaw said the officers didn’t hear any shots fired.
There is no word on a suspect or any arrests so far in this shooting. Police are asking anyone with information, or who may have photo or video of the shooting, to call them at 215-686-TIPS (8477).
The circumstances of this shooting remain under investigation.
Outlaw said it was not yet known if the shooting was intentional or if the officers were hit by stray bullets – or if the bullets came from celebratory gunfire.
Mayor Jim Kenney, who was also at the news conference, did not mince words when asked about the gun crisis in the city.
“If I had the ability to take care of guns. I would. But the legislature won’t let us. The U.S. Congress won’t let us. The governor does the best he can. Our Attorney General does the best he can. But this is a gun country. It’s crazy,” he said.
“We’re the most armed country in world history and we’re one of the least safest,” he continued. “So, you know, until Americans decide that they want to give up the guns and give up the opportunity to get guns we’re gonna have this problem.”
This shooting comes just hours after gunfire during a Fourth of July parade in Illinois.
Six people were killed and dozens more were injured in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago. A person of interest, in that case, is currently in custody.
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