FILE - Police officers wearing a protective face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus accompany the remains of Cpl. James O'Connor as they depart from Our Lady of Calvary Church in Philadelphia, Friday, May 8, 2020. O'Çonnor was shot and killed early Friday, March 13, as he served a homicide warrant at a home in the Philadelphia's Frankford section. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
Two men pleaded guilty Wednesday to murder and racketeering charges in the March 2020 shooting death of a Philadelphia police officer.
Hassan Elliott, 26, and Khalif Sears, 23, admitted killing SWAT Cpl. James O’Connor IV, as police sought to arrest them in a 2019 homicide. As police climbed an interior stairwell at Elliott’s apartment, he fired a dozen shots through a wall that struck O’Connor in the neck and arm, authorities said.
Sears and two others were arrested inside. Federal prosecutors said they were part of a gang that had shot a dozen people, killing three, as they sought to control drug sales in the city’s Frankford section.
They plan to recommend that Elliott serve 55 to 75 years in prison and Sears, as a co-conspirator, serve 35 to 50 years in prison. The pair are expected to be sentenced this spring. An attorney for Sears declined comment while Elliott’s lawyer did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment Wednesday.
O’Connor’s widow, Terri, called his death unfair and said it had “ruined our lives,” The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. O’Connor, 46, had two children, including a son who was on the police force at the time.