Philly shooting leaves suspect dead, officer hurt

Authorities say a Philadelphia police officer grazed by a bullet in an exchange of gunfire that left a suspect dead has been released from the hospital.

Officers were responding to a report of a person with a gun in the Tacony section of northeast Philadelphia shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday.

Police said they spotted a suspect, who began firing, hitting a police van and grazing Officer Steve Korpalski, a 14-year-veteran. He is expected to be all right, although “a half-inch over and we’d be planning a funeral now,” Commissioner Charles Ramsey said.

Authorities said several officers returned fire, hitting the suspect multiple times. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital. His identity hasn’t been released. The suspect’s weapon was recovered at the scene, where yellow evidence markers dotted the street marking bullets, shell casings and fragments.

“It’s something that unfortunately does happen periodically,” Ramsey told reporters. “We have some pretty brazen criminals, and our officers, that’s what we do — we send them in harm’s way. We put them in the toughest areas to go after the people that are causing a lot of harm out here in our community.”