A man police say was armed with a 7-inch butcher knife was shot this morning and later died, police said.
Officers shot and killed a man they say was armed with a butcher knife today, the fourth police-involved shooting in the city in as many days and the third one to result in a suspect's death.
Officers were called to the Oxford Circle section of northeast Philadelphia at about 7 a.m. and found the man in the middle of the street holding a knife, Lt. John Stanford said. The officers used the bumper of their vehicle to knock him to the ground and then used pepper spray on him, but he ran toward them and they fired, he said.
At least three officers were finally able to wrest the knife from the man, who died at Aria Health Torresdale Hospital, Stanford said. A witness corroborated the officers' accounts and a 7-inch butcher knife was recovered, he said. The 23-year-old man's name wasn't immediately released.
Earlier in the week, officers shot and killed two armed suspects Wednesday night after pursuits in different parts of the city.
At about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in west Philadelphia, officers chased two armed men, and one ran into a moving vehicle. As officers moved in to arrest him, he pointed his gun at them, and both officers fired, Chief Inspector Scott Small said. The suspect was hit once and later died at a hospital. His name hasn't been released.
About an hour and a half later in north Philadelphia, officers were called to a Germantown intersection and chased a suspect on foot, firing when he turned and pointed a weapon at them. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His name has not been released.
Another confrontation ended in gunfire less than 24 hours later, as police shot and wounded a man in north Philadelphia.
Police officers heard gunfire and spotted a man running with a gun in his hand, so they got out of their vehicle and ordered him to drop his weapon, Small told The Philadelphia Inquirer. He refused and instead ran toward them with the weapon pointed in their direction, so they opened fire, wounding him in his lower body, he said. The suspect was later listed in stable condition at a hospital.