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Maurice Hill faced a judge Thursday for his second preliminary hearing. The first was in December 2019.
The 37-year-old is accused of barricading himself inside a home on 15th Street, near Erie Avenue, where authorities say he was shooting out of a window at police officers — endangering the lives of other people in the neighborhood.
Six officers were shot in the chaos — including one who was struck in the head and survived. A handful of officers were trapped inside the home during the eight-hour standoff. They were rescued just before Hill was coaxed outside.
Hill appeared in the courtroom Thursday during a video conference hearing, where he sat with his attorney and listened to the testimony of more than a dozen Philadelphia police officers who responded to the shootout that night.
Each of the officers who testified — remotely, due to the pandemic — repeatedly described bullets whizzing by them, glass shattering, and ducking for cover. One described the smell of burning asphalt as hundreds of bullets were fired from the Nicetown house.
Two officers identified Hill as the shooter, and they described the attempts to get him out of the house, which eventually led to tear gas.
Hill has maintained his innocence, and at least a dozen attempted murder charges were tossed by the judge — Karen Yvette Simmons — who said there was a lack of evidence on those specific charges.
Hill will be formally arraigned at the end of August. A tentative trial date has been set for next spring, but that’s likely to be pushed back because the courts are still backed up amid the pandemic.
The violent standoff occurred one year ago, on Aug. 14, in North Philadelphia.
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