2 police officers shot during July 4th festivities along the Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: 6ABC

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Two police officers were shot during the Fourth of July festivities in Philadelphia on Monday night.The shooting happened around 10 p.m., just a few minutes after the fireworks display started.

Sources tell Action News that they believe the gunfire erupted from a location in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art but behind the main stage on Eakins Oval. Police say a Philadelphia officer assigned to highway patrol sustained a graze wound to the head.

A second officer assigned to Montgomery County Bomb Squad sustained a gunshot wound to the right shoulder. That officer was there to assist Philadelphia police, as officers from surrounding counties often do during large events in the city.

Both officers were transported to Jefferson University Hospital by police and placed in stable condition.There is no word on a suspect or any arrests so far in this shooting. The circumstances of this shooting remain under investigation.


Read more: https://6abc.com/police-offier-shot-ben-franklin-parkway-shooting-investigation-4th-of-july/12018760/

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Short article - now updated a bit.

This is breaking here as I'm trying to get in the bed. This happened in the middle of the big concert & fireworks show.

Original article and headline-

Officials: 2 officers shot during Fourth of July festivities along the Ben Franklin Parkway

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia officials are investigating an incident at the parkway that left two police officers injured Monday night. The incident happened just before 10 p.m. on the 2400 block of Spring Garden Street.

Police say a Philadelphia officer assigned to highway patrol sustained a graze wound to the head. A second officer assigned to Montgomery County Bomb Squad sustained a gunshot wound to the right shoulder.

Both officers were transported to Jefferson University Hospital by police and placed in stable conditioThere is no word on a suspect or any arrests so far in this shooting.

The Philadelphia Police Department took to Twitter to warn others to stay clear of the area. The circumstances of this shooting remain under investigation.

Link to tweet

Philadelphia OEM
@PhilaOEM
·
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There is a security incident on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Please follow public safety instructions and avoid area. Details to follow.
10:04 PM · Jul 4, 2022

Link to tweet

Philadelphia Police
@PhillyPolice
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For those looking to reunites with loved ones on the Parkway, please meet at 1901 Vine Street in front of the Free Library of Philadelphia. All others, please avoid the area.
10:43 PM · Jul 4, 2022

[SouthBayDem]

1. fixed link

https://6abc.com/police-offier-shot-ben-franklin-parkway-shooting-investigation-4th-of-july/12018760/

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Yup they updated it and I just added the update!

[SoCalDavidS]

3. Supposedly It Happened Before The Fireworks Started

According to the local news channel that has been providing coverage. One of their reporters was near the shooting when it happened.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. I'm here in Philly sitting on the side of the bed with KYW on

listening to the coverage and trying to post on one of my phones. They were saying that it possibly happened around 9:45 pm and that people suddenly saw a police helicopter fly low overhead and note that there was a concert going on ahead of the fireworks.

[Mosby]

4. Video

Link to tweet

Large crowds are a target now it seems.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Thanks! Here's another couple

Link to tweet

Meredith Edlow
@MedlowMinus
·
Follow
Active shooter incident on the Benjamin Franklin Pkwy. in Philadelphia, PA. July 4, 2022.
This is 22nd & Benjamin Franklin Pkwy. Terrifying scene. Hope folks are ok. Most have left the parkway. #gunviolence
10:22 PM · Jul 4, 2022

Link to tweet

Alex Dzomba
@AlexDzomba
·
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Scene from Ben Franklin Parkway during reported active shooter tonight during firework show #philly #benfranklinparkway #bfp @NBCPhiladelphia
10:12 PM · Jul 4, 2022

(this looks like it's overlooking Logan's Circle about 7 blocks east of the Art Museum and the fireworks - they might be headed for the train/subway/EL station access to get the hell out of dodge!)

[TeamProg]

7. Yeah right. Gun rights GOPsters are pro-police.

What a bunch of crock.

FUCK RWs AND THEIR FAKE PRO POLICE STANCE.

[BigmanPigman]

8. Man, I used to see the fireworks there too.

There is no safe palce in this officially a shithole country now. Thanks to the fucking moron, McConnel and SCOTUS it will only get worse.

[AZLD4Candidate]

9. Police tend to vote Republican whose pro-gun policies make things like this happen more

But I guess dead babies, dead shoppers, and dead cops are okay.

Police tend to be extreme right wing.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. Updates - both officers released from hospital & bullet recovered from highway patrol' off.'s hat

Link to tweet

Tim Jimenez
@TimJRadio
·
Jul 4, 2022
Outside of Jefferson Hospital in Center City where the two officers injured in the Parkway shooting were taken and are in stable condition. Strong police presence around the hospital. @KYWNewsradio
Image
Tim Jimenez
@TimJRadio
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FOP Pres John McNesby says the officers are doing well. He shared this picture of a bullet lodged in the hat of the highway patrol officer who was grazed in the head. @KYWNewsradio
Image
11:55 PM · Jul 4, 2022

[BumRushDaShow]

11. Took forever this morning but here is the more complete righteous rant from our mayor

Link to tweet

FOX 29
@FOX29philly
·
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Mayor Kenney spoke to reporters Monday night after two police officers were shot during 4th of July festivities in the city, blaming legislation & Congress for gun violence. He also said he'll be happy when he's no longer the mayor of Philadelphia.

More: https://bit.ly/3Aq4NUg
6:36 AM · Jul 5, 2022

[Cozmo]

12. OMG I had a premonition about this

[BumRushDaShow]

13. I was concerned since Wawa Welcome America is one of the few large events where there's no screening

When they do "Made in America" down there, they have security lines, bag checks, and magnetometers, etc., to get onto the Parkway for access to the various concert stages.

[BumRushDaShow]

14. UPDATE JULY 6 - Shots may have been from "celebratory gun fire" up to a mile away

They found the 2nd bullet and both bullets were determined to have been 40 caliber. Based on how the one was lodged in one officer's cap and on the injury to the other officer, plus where that bullet was found, forensics believed the bullets were moving "relatively slowly" akin to having dropped out of the sky with not much momentum left.

July 06, 2022
July Fourth shooter was 'quite a distance away' from Ben Franklin Parkway, Philly police say


By Michael Tanenbaum
PhillyVoice Staff


Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Frank Vanore says the person who shot two officers during the city's Fourth of July fireworks celebration likely was far away from the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. No arrests have been made.The gunshots that injured two police officers during Philadelphia's Fourth of July celebration appear to have been fired from above and "quite a distance away" from the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, police said Wednesday.

Investigators are still attempting to piece together evidence that will help find the shooter. Both of the 40-caliber bullets that struck the officers came from the same weapon, investigators said. The two rounds collected appeared to be in "pristine" condition. No other bullets have been found at this time.

Identifying the shooter is expected to be an especially difficult task given the long range of the gunshots, Chief Inspector Frank Vanore said.

"Because the bullets were moving so slow and didn't have much momentum left – a 40-caliber round can travel unimpeded ... over 2,200 yards," Vanore said. "Then it's going to stop and come down based on what other variables there are – wind and weather and anything else that's going on. It's going to also depend on the way the person ... fired it."

(snip)

https://www.phillyvoice.com/philly-shooting-july-4th-ben-franklin-parkway-investigation/

This is the physics that happens with and danger of "stray bullets".

[Deminpenn]

15. That's what I suspected

Having lived and worked in Philadelphia for a long time, people were always shooting off guns on New Year's and the 4th.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. I think due to the other shootings reported around the country on July 4

(with the Highland Park one getting the most press due to the unfortunate carnage, but that was one of apparently a number of other gun-related incidents that happened Monday), city officials were concerned and opted for evacuating the Parkway as quickly as possible to avoid any further panic.

Luckily it was a beautiful evening - comfortably warm temps and low humidity, so people were more laid back until warnings were shouted about what might have happened. The officers themselves said they hadn't heard any gunshots before they were hit, although the fireworks were underway behind where they were stationed when they were hit.

I just heard on the radio this morning that the officer who had the bullet lodged in his cap, described the feeling as similar to being as if hit by a sledge hammer - strong enough to knock him down. I think I saw some calculations that had the bullet come from a mile away like that with whatever trajectory it was following, it could have still been going around 140 mph as it fell to the ground -

What happens when someone fires bullets skyward


by Craig R. McCoy
Published Jul 6, 2022



As Philadelphia police try to determine who shot two officers during July 4th fireworks on the Parkway on Monday night, detectives say the very absence of information is a clue. Neither of the officers grazed by the bullets nor anyone near them heard the sound of gunshots, police said. And the crowd of more than 10,000 had to pass through 17 metal detectors to attend the event. To investigators, this suggests that the shots — determined by ballistics testing to be .40-caliber bullets from the same gun — were fired by someone a mile or so away, perhaps in a burst of what has somewhat awkwardly come to be called celebratory gunfire.

One spent bullet ended up in the cap of Philadelphia Police Officer Sergio Diggs. The other was found on the sidewalk near Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputy John Foster, falling there after grazing his right shoulder. What is perhaps less of a puzzle is why the bullets caused so little damage. While a .40-caliber slug fired into the sky can exit a muzzle at a speed of more than 500 mph, experts say, it can fall to the ground at much slower speeds.

After reaching its apex, a bullet’s velocity can decline by as much as 90% as it falls.Donald Carluccio, a professor of mechanical engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., and an authority on ballistics, said the gravitational pull of Earth is counteracted by the drag of the atmosphere, imposing a terminal velocity that a bullet cannot exceed.

The precise speed limit is a function of a bullet’s shape, its arc, and how much it might tumble. But in some cases, that final velocity can be low enough to be less than the speed at which an object can penetrate skin — about 160 mph. Still, Carluccio noted, it’s not wise to shoot a gun into the heavens. “What goes up comes down,” he said. “That law is not changing over time.”

(snip)

https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-shooting-parkway-fireworks-ballistics-police-20220706.html

I remember seeing some articles recently during the gun control legislation markups, with lawmakers calling for serial numbers inscribed on every bullet so they could be tracked and traced.