PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A person is dead and a Philadelphia police officer was shot in his bulletproof vest Thursday afternoon during an exchange of gunfire with a man who officers had taken to a mental health facility in Northeast Philadelphia.
Authorities say it happened just before 1 p.m. outside Friends Hospital just off Roosevelt Boulevard.
According to Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel, two officers saw a 36-year-old man running through traffic and engaged him by Torresdale Avenue. The man told them he wanted to be "voluntarily committed" to Friends Hospital due to a mental health crisis.
Officials say the officers transported him to the facility. Upon exiting the police wagon, the man got into a scuffle with the pair and took one officer's gun. That's when Bethel says his partner opened fire on the man.
Both the suspect and one of the officers were hit in the scuffle. The 36-year-old man was struck several times and pronounced dead at the hospital.
The officer was struck in the vest, an inch from his flesh. He is being treated at Temple University Hospital and is expected to be okay.
Bethel says officials are investigating the shooting.
"This is an innocent situation where the officers are just moving an individual who wants to get treatment and unfortunately it turns into a very tragic situation," Bethel said.