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Philadelphia Police: Officer-Involved Shooting Shuts Down Kensington Neighborhood

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- An officer-involved shooting shut down part of a Philadelphia neighborhood on Thursday afternoon. The shooting happened in Kensington at Jasper Street and Hart Lane, around 1 p.m.

Police say the officer who fired his weapon has been with the department for over 25 years. He, along with some officers, attempted to intervene in a neighborhood commotion and it ended up in gunfire when one of those men ran towards that officer while holding a gun.

Philadelphia police shooting Kensington
(credit: CBS3)

"Plainclothes officers just happened to be in this area and saw the whole thing," Philadelphia Police Staff Inspector Sekou Kinebrew said.

Police say officers on routine patrol in Kensington witnessed two different groups involved in a fight. They say someone in one of the groups fired a semiautomatic weapon and then ran towards the officers with the weapon still in their hands.

That is when the officer fired.

No one was hurt.

"No one was struck, not the person with the gun and not the officer," Kinebrew said.

Police say the person who ran towards them tossed the weapon, but investigators have been able to recover. They now have that firearm, along with two people taken into custody for questioning.

They are now working to find out what led up to that initial altercation.

"We're not exactly sure whether it was a robbery or a drug deal gone south, but whatever happened rose to the level of somebody producing a firearm and running down the street," Kinebrew said.

This is the second officer-involved shooting in less than a week in Philadelphia.

For a list of gun violence resources in Philadelphia, click here.

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