5 People In Custody After Shots Fired At Undercover Officers During Narcotics Investigation In North Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A tense situation unfolded in North Philadelphia after police say someone opened fire on two undercover police officers during a narcotics investigation. The shooting then quickly escalated into a standoff.
It all started on the corner of Oakdale and Warnock Streets, just before midnight Wednesday. Police say the two undercover officers spotted what they believed to be the start of a drug deal and heard shots fired. They realized someone was actually shooting at them in their unmarked vehicle.
That person then ran into a property nearby, sparking the barricade situation.
"The officers immediately covered the back, front and side of the property, and notified police radio that someone just fired shots at them," Philadelphia Police Chief Insp. Scott Small said. "A supervisor immediately declared it a barricaded person, since there were shots fired."
Police surrounded the property, SWAT was called in, negotiators arrived and it took about an hour on the bull horn, but officers were able to talk five people into coming out.
Police remain unsure if any of those five people were the ones who fired at police.
"One of the persons, the officers believe fits the description of someone who fired the shots but until we are 100% sure that person won't be charged, but that is going to be part of our investigation at this time," Small said.
Those five people were taken into custody. No charges have been filed yet.
There were no reported injuries.
Police are also interviewing an eyewitness who was there in the street at the time of the shooting who says that she saw the person who fired at police.
Investigators have also collected a number of ballistic evidence which they say indicates that police were fired upon at least three times.
As police updated the media on this incident, gunfire rang out several blocks away in an unrelated shooting.
All of this coming just about two weeks after six Philadelphia police officers were shot during an hours-long standoff in the Nicetown-Tioga.
