Rookie Philadelphia police officer shot in stomach while trying to break up fight near high school

A 26-year-old Philadelphia police officer was in critical condition Wednesday after being shot while responding to a fight outside Overbrook High School. 

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel strongly condemned the incident, calling it a dangerous example of adults making bad decisions and putting lives at risk.

At a press conference Wednesday evening, Bethel did not hold back when talking about the 30-year-old man now under arrest for allegedly bringing a gun to a student fight and firing it.

“There’s been fights at the school that happened since I was a kid,” Bethel said. “But what I never would do was call an adult to my fight. And then when you are an adult, you’re a d— adult. And you’re supposed to know that.”

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The police got a call around 2:42 p.m. from school safety officers at Overbrook High School, asking for help after multiple fights broke out as school let out for the day. Officers showed up and started breaking up the fight, but some students were also fighting with the officers.

“We have an adult come to it with a weapon that could kill, easily kill my officers,” Bethel said. “It makes absolutely no sense.”

Bethel said the bullet ricocheted and hit a 26-year-old officer in the stomach, just below his bulletproof vest. The officer, on the job for just over a year and recently assigned to the 19th District, was rushed to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he had surgery and is now in critical condition.

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“We constantly are encouraging parents, it can’t just be us. Can’t be just [Superintendent] Dr. B. Watlington and the school district,” said Bethel. “Parents are engaged in this process. But when a 30-year-old man comes to a fight with children, what the h— are they gonna do?”

“And then you bring a gun. So you’re a coward anyway. You’re gonna come to the fight, come to fight. But you bring a gun and then you fire the weapon. Anyone could have been injured. Unfortunately, my officer is the one who was injured in this case.”

No other injuries were reported.

As for the adult suspect, Commissioner Bethel said: “You’re supposed to be the one who has to come in there to de-escalate, not escalate.”