Photo credit: WPIV.
Photo credit: WPIV.

A murderer went on a rampage in West Philadelphia last night, killing one woman and wounding several others. The attacker ambushed Philadelphia Police Sergeant Sylvia Young, a 19-year veteran of the force, while sitting in her patrol car. He then went on a spree, shooting at least five others before the attack was stopped.

According to Philadelphia-based WPIV News, the attacker shot Sgt. Young eight times, “mostly in the left arm”. The suspect then fled from police on foot, firing shots randomly into the Maximum Level Lounge on Samson Street. He allegedly used a woman as a human shield to protect himself from pursuing officers, shooting her in the leg in the process. After that, the attacker fired more shots into a nearby van, striking a man and a woman. That woman subsequently died of her wounds.

Fox News reports that the pursuit ended when two of Philadelphia’s finest assisted by Eddie Miller, a security guard at the University of Pennsylvania, chased the perpetrator into an alley where a shootout ensued. Miller was wounded, the shooter was killed.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross is reported as saying that police found a note among the attacker’s possessions stating that he “hated cops and probation officers.”

There’s not much more to add to that other than to remember: criminals don’t always need a reason; violent attacks can happen any place, at any time. You don’t need to carry a gun all the time…you just need to have one with you the days you know you’re going to be in a gunfight. Right?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

38 COMMENTS

  1. Sounds like plan to me, but I won’t use MSNBC to tell me when to carry. MSNBC’ll tell me Philly, Baltimore, DC, CHI, NYC are all safer (because of their gunlaws) than MainStreet, USA that doesn’t restrict self-defense. I, for one, am glad the Police were able to stop the rampage with a few (6?) civilian casualties. I wonder why all the gun laws in Philly didn’t work? I’m sure City of Phil will pass more laws, since the previous ones were ineffective.

    • Only the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania can pass gun laws, not municipalities. Philadelphia, as PA’s only “class 1 city,” does have a few restrictions not in force elsewhere in the state. These restrictions are in the state statute.

  3. The cops will give you a RAFT of sh*t for carrying in Philly proper. Even the Deputy out here who issued my LTCF said something like: “While technically and legally you are permitted to carry in Philly, I do not recommend it as the Police will give you a real hard time”. And there have been many instances of such – Philly Cops ‘confiscating’ someone’s gun until they ‘investigate further’ after being pulled over for a routine traffic stop, etc. Best advice is just to stay out of that sh*thole in the first place. (Oh and yeah, I was born in that sh*thole too).

    • They were sued a few years ago, and supposedly the Philly cops are now trained to respect the law concerning guns. I’ve never been hassled. But, then, I don’t open carry.

      • Yeah, don’t try to put that shit over on us. When the city is named after you, of course the cops are nice.

        • Heh, Philly cops are nice to nobody. Unless you are rich or connected, best to avoid them entirely. I do, which I’m sure is why I don’t get hassled.

          More generally, Philadelphia is a city of brotherly love to the same extent Los Angels a city of angels.

  4. He hated cops and probation officers? Do I need crystal balls to predict he wasn’t legal to own a gun. And for a guy that hated cops he shot a lot of non cops.

    • Obviously UBC’s would have prevented this as he would have been denied owning a firearm when the crack dealer on the corner seller found out he was a prohibited person.

  5. ” …violent attacks can happen any place, at any time. You don’t need to carry a gun all the time…you just need to have one with you the days you know you’re going to be in a gunfight. Right?”

    This factual statement is why I always harp on the importance of your daily carry gear being squared away. If you know a gunfight is coming, you either dont go (duh) or you take a rifle and friends with rifles. If we are carrying guns because we are aware of the posibility of being forced to defend ourselves and our families from violence we need to be capable of more violence than the other guy. The gear we chose, our mentality and physicality (to the best of our abilities) should reflect that.

    • That’s an excellent point and one that’s easy to overlook, maybe even especially by people well familiar with firearms. It’s easy to take things for granted.

      I carry with a round chambered, like most everyone else does, and I cycle through and replace my carry ammo when I visit the range. About a year ago, after one trip, I reloaded my carry magazines, but neglected to chamber a round.

      About two months passed by and I was getting ready to leave one morning. I just had a sudden, bad feeling about my sidearm, so I decided to check it out. I removed the magazine, then racked the action to clear the chamber. I was mortified to learn I’d been walking around with an empty chamber for two months.

      The realization of the potential danger I’d been in all along has really stuck with me. The only thing potentially worse than a gun going bang when you expected nothing, is it doing nothing when you expected it to go bang.

      • You picked up a gun nearly every day and didn’t verify if the chamber was loaded? You need to rethink your habits. I verify every time I pick up one of my guns that the chamber is loaded or not. My carry and home defense pistol is verified every time it moves from my hip to it’s safe and vice versa. It has a loaded chamber indicator that makes that easy but if I had to nudge the slide every time to be sure I would. Any time I pick up a gun I double check, I trained to my wife to double check and I’ll train my son to double check.

        I’m not trying to harp on you, but this should happen anytime you touch a gun. Making assumptions like that can kill you or someone else.

        • This^^^

          My carry piece does have a loaded chamber indicator, but i still do a press check when it leaves my holster to go into the safe, or leaves the safe to go into my holster. Every time, Every day, no exceptions.

      • ” The only thing potentially worse than a gun going bang when you expected nothing, is it doing nothing when you expected it to go bang.”

        Yep, the proverbial ‘Two loudest sounds you will ever hear’…

  6. “You don’t need to carry a gun all the time…you just need to have one with you the days you know you’re going to be in a gunfight.”

    Of course two obvious responses to that comment are:

    (a) If I knew that a gunfight would erupt at a certain place at a certain time, I would avoid that place!

    — or —

    (b) If I knew that a gunfight would erupt at a certain place at a certain time, I would have several friends with rifles accompany me to that place!

  7. If only guns were banned from the entire world, then there would be no gun violence. Wake up, Earth!

    – Aliens Demand Action

  8. I don’t know much about Philadelphia gun laws having only been there a couple of times as a teenager.

    What I will say is this: The places you’d be more likely to need a gun are generally the places that make it the biggest pain in the ass to have one legally. Therefore, I go out of my way to avoid those places.

    • Lately even the gun stores have issues. One of my shopping spots, Lock’s in Mayfair has been burglarized 3 times & lost 20 guns in the last few weeks. As for needing a gun 24/7? That is the nice thing about unemployment, I stay home alot.But true, the politicians are very anti gun and keep acting as if they are not part of PA. Utill they beg for money…

  9. Well another reminder it is time to renew my permit. This is the 3 cop shooting here in the 18th district in year. I live 3 blocks from the station; so all of this is in my backyard. Minor correction; Officer Miller is Upenn Poilce rather than security. Univ. Of Penn & Temple Univ. Have some of the biggest police units in PA. This almost a carbon copy ambush on a patrol car as seen last Dec. By the pro ISIS guy. Events only 10 blocks apart strangely.

  10. The leader of the #BLM chapter at the University of Houston just got mugged, and now he wants more cops to protect his sorry @ss.

    Meanwhile, #BLM is calling for police to be run over or shot.

    You are on your own, #BLM clowns. Drop us a line and let us know how it works out for you.

    • You think the black lives splatter bunch ain’t armed Ralph?!? They are after all mostly felon and thugs-or just lowlife rabble rousers. They’ll be just fine with Barry& Loretta in their corner ?

  11. I live in PA and I refuse to go near the gaping shithole Philly is. Monroeville, right outside of Pittsburgh, has been playing the same game with their own gun laws for years. “While we can’t stop you from a carrying a firearm, we will make it very uncomfortable if you get stopped with one.” My buddy is a local cop and he told me the city cops have taken it so far as to make you wait while they run a check to make sure the gun isn’t stolen even after you furnish your permit.

  12. People who hate cops and probation officers also love welfare, the national endowment for the arts, and other free stuff from the government.

    Philadelphia is a Democrat run hell hole. Democrat run police department. All of these major cities are democrat party run for decades.
    When I hear people complain about the “law and order” republicans I just laugh.

  14. Well, the silver lining is that the chance of recidivism regarding this psycho attacking anyone else is 0%. He still may wind up voting for Hillary Clinton, though. Unless Pennsylvania requires voter ID. Best wishes for a speedy recovering for those injured, and my condolences for the loss of life.

  15. UPENN campus cops are NOT security guards. They are a fully tooled up semi independent branch of the Philadelia PD. And, as they are there to protect the children of rich folks, they are a more or less elite unit, actually. Farthest thing from rentacops.
    The Inquirer also noted that the first officer targeted has her “revolver” disabled by the fire. I think it’s unlikely (but possible) it was a revolver. A pistol, more likely.

  17. Erik is absolutely right – the University of Pennsylvania Police are hardly “security guards.” They are a large and well trained police force that patrols a fairly dangerous section of the city. When you call 911 in University City, it’s often the Penn cops who show up first.

    Also, contrary to what some commenters believe, there is no problem with legal concealed carry in Philly. The city has attempted to put a few extra restrictions on shall issue, but they don’t amount to much. Lots of people concealed carry in Philly. Never seen open carry though.

    • Open carry in a City of the first class is permited only if you also have a CCW permit or sportsmans permit. Phila. County is the only 1st class city.

Comments are closed.