An officer is in critical condition after he was shot while police were breaking up a large fight outside Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said Wednesday afternoon.
The officer was shot once in the stomach and is currently undergoing surgery at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Bethel said.
The shooting happened in the 1900 block of North 59th Street in the city’s Overbrook section, outside the high school.
Bethel said police responded to calls of a number of fights happening outside Overbrook High School around the time of dismissal. Officers called for backup, and Bethel said some arrests were made.
The police commissioner said that at some point, a 30-year-old man came into the area armed with a Ruger-57, a semi-automatic pistol.
“That is a very deadly weapon for us and a weapon that would penetrate our vests when fired,” Bethel said.
Bethel said the suspect appeared to fire the gun into the ground, and the cartridge ricocheted, striking the 26-year-old police officer under his bulletproof vest. Bethel said the officer didn’t immediately realize he was shot, but was rushed to the hospital shortly after.
The gun was recovered, and the adult suspect was arrested, police said.
Bethel said no Philadelphia Police Department officers fired their weapons during the incident.
“I am extremely proud of the men and women of this department,” Bethel said. “When I sit there and watch the video and watch what they endured and watched their response to that in the moment, I am proud of these men and women and what they endured.”
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