PHILADELPHIA — A 36-year-old Philadelphia man was charged Sunday with attempted murder in connection with a shooting that seriously injured a police officer following a traffic stop, police said.
Ramon Rodriguez Vazquez also faces charges of aggravated assault and residential burglary, police said.
The 31-year-old officer and his partner stopped a car carrying four people in Northeast Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood shortly before 8 p.m. Saturday, the city’s police commissioner, Kevin Bethel, told reporters late Saturday night.
The officers were doing an inventory of the vehicle when they saw someone with a gun holster, Bethel said. That person fled, firing three times and hitting one officer in the neck, he said. The injured officer was taken to Temple University Hospital in critical condition, Bethel said at a news conference outside the hospital.
“I often come here with a lot of anger about what my men and women have to endure,” Bethel said. But he said he had just come from a meeting of 75 to 100 police personnel, where they held hands to pray for the officer. and in this case he came before the public to ask people across the city to do the same.
The suspect in the shooting and all the people in the car “as well as a person of interest involved in the shooting” were in custody, Bethel said.
“We assume that all those responsible are in custody,” he said, telling reporters that no one else was wanted.
Bethel said the officer’s partner “absolutely” returned fire, but there was no initial indication the wounded officer had fired.
Mayor Cherelle Parker said in a social media post that the officer, who has been on the force for 6 1/2 years, was “on life support” with a ventilator. She also asked residents to pray for “a husband, a father and a son” who “did a noble job under very difficult circumstances.”
“He didn’t expect to be fighting for his life,” she said.
Governor Josh Shapiro said in a social media post on Sunday that he and the first lady joined others in praying for the injured officer.
“His family are in our thoughts, as are his fellow officers, who were forced to rush one of their own to hospital last night,” he said.
Over the past eight months, gunfire has killed one Philadelphia officer and injured eight others.
In October, Officer Richard Mendez was killed and another officer was injured in a shooting while investigating a suspected car burglary in a parking lot at Philadelphia International Airport. Three New Jersey men are awaiting trial in this case. Earlier this month, three officers were injured in a shootout at a northeast Philadelphia home after an argument over a video game erupted into gunfire.
In December, two officers were injured in gunfire following the pursuit of a shooting suspect. In January, an officer was shot at a corner store and a suspect was killed by another officer. A few days later, an officer was shot in the hand while serving a warrant.
In neighboring Delaware County, authorities said in February that two officers were injured by gunfire from an East Lansdowne home before it burned to the ground. Six remains were recovered and the suspect and four family members — two adults and two juveniles — died of gunshot wounds, while one child died of smoke inhalation, authorities said.