PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Police are searching for a man they say tried to gun down a Philly cop, a security guard and three others over the weekend because he didn’t want to repay a cover charge to get back into a nightclub. Authorities say they need the public’s help in identifying the man.
A uniformed Philadelphia police officer was working outside a nightclub on Lancaster Avenue near 40th Street when officials say a man got into a tussle with the security guards. Investigators he had been inside the nightclub, left briefly, and when he came back, door staff charged him a cover fee to get in.
“Once he was refused re-entry by security and told why, he got into a physical altercation with security, and that physical altercation was broken up. And then outside another physical altercation ensued,” said Lt. Jason Hendershot, with the department’s Officer Involved Shooting Investigation Unit.
When the man left the scene, Hendershot says, they believe he went to his car to get his gun — and then came back “and positioned himself on the north side of the street, directly across from the club where the officer was, the security guard, and at least three other civilian patrons trying to get back into the club.”
Surveillance video shows a suspect firing nearly a dozen times at all five people.
“It was very evident he was aiming at the officer and security guard who were positioned right outside the nightclub. There’s no mistaking it,” Hendershot said.
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“We’re very fortunate that no one involved was shot, no police, no security guard, no civilians. However they were in a direct line of fire.”
The officer and guard fired back, and the man ran down Wallace Street before jumping into a silver car — possibly a Nissan Ultima or Maxima.
Detectives believe the suspect lives in Camden, N.J., based on identification the man had given to the club, and they are asking the public to call in any information that might lead to his arrest.