SEPTA’s transit police union hits pause on strike as negotiations continue
A new deadline has been set for Dec. 13 to decide on a new agreement or go on strike.
12 months ago
SEPTA police shot an alleged stabbing suspect in Center City on Monday. (6abc)
This story originally appeared on 6abc.
An investigation is underway after a SEPTA police officer shot a knife-wielding man who allegedly stabbed three people, including an unarmed security guard in Center City Philadelphia.
The shooting happened around 8 p.m. Monday at Broad Street and S. Penn Square outside of City Hall after police got a call about a man down on the northbound platforms at the Walnut-Locust Station trying to slash people walking by.
According to SEPTA police, the suspect was attempting to stab people on the northbound platform at the Walnut-Locust Station.
“I’m told preliminary that it seems unprovoked, that the individual came into the station and started making slashing motions just at people walking by,” said SEPTA Police Chief Chuck Lawson.
SEPTA police said an unarmed security guard approached the man, who went on to stab her in the neck. He then slashed at least two passengers before fleeing the platform.
SEPTA police quickly converged on the scene, and as the suspect emerged from the station. There was a short chase before one of those officers deployed his Taser.
Lawson said the Taser was ineffective and that’s when a six-year veteran of the SEPTA Transit Police Department shot the armed suspect at least three times, wounding him.
“I seen the transit cops. They was coming from the south side of Broad Street and when they came this way, they shot the guy with the Taser. When they shot the guy with the Taser, he ran in that direction. When he ran in that direction over there, they ended up shooting him three times and he went down,” recalled Lamar Hargrove of North Philadelphia.
“We were hanging Christmas lights in our window right here, and all of a sudden we just heard four loud gunshots. We looked out there and there was a man on the ground, and like nine or 10 police officers around him,” said Karl Bratty, who witnessed the incident.
The suspect was taken to an area hospital. There is no word on his condition.
All three victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
A crime scene unit could be seen outside City Hall Monday night, as well as shell casings and two knives on the ground.
Lawson says this serves as just one more reminder of the dangers law enforcement officers face on a regular basis.
“The city has become violent. We’ve seen things, we’ve seen this on SEPTA over the year. We are dealing with an angry population who arming themselves with weapons and using them over senseless arguments,” said Lawson.