UPDATE: Jan. 8, 2016, 2:08 PM ET
The suspect who ambushed a police officer sitting in his squad car Thursday night, shooting him three times, said he acted in the name of Islam and pledged his loyalty to the Islamic State, Philadelphia police commissioner Richard Ross said Friday
The suspect, identified as 30-year-old Edward Archer, “came out of nowhere” and started firing on the officer as he sat in his patrol car, Ross said in a press conference.
“He was trying to assassinate this police officer,” Ross said. “He just started firing with one aim and one aim only, to kill him.”
The suspect used a stolen police-issued weapon in the shooting of Philadelphia officer Jesse Hartnett, who was hit three times in the arm, he said.
The gunman fired at least 13 shots toward Hartnett and eventually got up next to the car and reached through the driver’s-side window. Despite being seriously wounded, Hartnett got out of his car, chased the suspect and returned fire, wounding his attacker.
Ross called it “astonishing” that Hartnett survived the attack and managed to return fire.
Hartnett is in stable condition, and Archer was treated and released into police custody.
Valerie Holliday, Archer’s mother, described her son as a devout Muslim who had recently begun to hear voices to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney, currently in his first week in office, said Archer’s actions are “abhorrent” and have nothing to do with the teachings of Islam.
“This is a criminal with a stolen gun who tried to kill one of our officers,” he told the Associated Press. “It has nothing to do with being a Muslim or following the Islamic faith.”
This story has been updated.
