Philly Police Head On Officer Ambush: ‘One Of The Scariest I’ve Ever Seen’

Officials investigate the scene of a shooting Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, in Philadelphia. A Philadelphia police officer was shot multiple times by a man who ambushed him as he sat in his marked police cruiser, authorities... Officials investigate the scene of a shooting Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, in Philadelphia. A Philadelphia police officer was shot multiple times by a man who ambushed him as he sat in his marked police cruiser, authorities said. (AP Photo/Joseph Kaczmarek) MORE LESS
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia police officer was ambushed by a man while sitting in his marked cruiser, and was in stable condition Friday after being shot three times in his left arm, officials said.

Police Commissioner Richard Ross said the suspect fired 13 shots that hit Officer Jessie Hartnett and his car late Thursday. He said the officer returned fire, hitting his assailant at least three times.

“This is absolutely one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen,” Ross said at a news conference early Friday. “This guy tried to execute the police officer. The police officer had no idea he was coming.”

The suspect ran away but was quickly apprehended by other officers, authorities said.

Ross, who was sworn in as commissioner Tuesday, said there was no apparent motive for the attack.

“Why someone would do something so absolutely evil is just beyond us,” Ross said. “It’s amazing he’s alive.”

There was no immediate word on the suspect’s condition. Officer Christine O’Brien said the man was stuck at least once in the buttock.

Jim Kenney, who is in his first week as mayor of the nation’s fifth-largest city, said, “There are just too many guns on the streets and I think our national government needs to do something about that.”

His statement comes on the heels of President Barack Obama’s announcement on Tuesday of his plan to tighten gun control laws.

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Associated Press writers Joscelyn Paine and Bob Lentz contributed to this report.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  1. Jim Kenney, who is in his first week as mayor of the nation’s fifth-largest city, said, “There are just too many guns on the streets and I think our national government needs to do something about that.”

    Say, What?!

  2. I thought “an Armed Society was a polite society”?
    That “Good Guys with Guns” were protected from random shootings by lunatics?

  3. Wait. The lunatics are protecting the Good Guys?

  4. You know what else is scary, Commissioner? When the opposite of that happens.

  5. And because the Dem/liberal messaging machine is a clockwork wind up toy with mis-shapen gears, they will utterly fail to get out in front of these kinds of incidents and demand that the narrative be “BAD COPS PUT GOOD COPS IN DANGER.” Instead, all we will hear about in the MSM is how this is all the fault of “Obama’s divisiveness” and the “BLM hate group” inciting violence and putting out hits on police.

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