A Philadelphia police SWAT officer was briefly hospitalized Friday after his bulletproof vest stopped a bullet while he was serving an afternoon search warrant, according to authorities.
“Thank God, our brave SWAT officer will physically recover from this cowardly attack,” Philly Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw tweeted Friday evening. “Emboldened, violent criminals seemingly think it’s open season on our communities and our officers.”
She called the uptick in anti-police violence “sickening.”
“It has to stop,” she added. “I’m proud of our officers; we will not back down!”
The SWAT team was approaching a third-floor apartment Friday afternoon on West Lehigh Avenue in order to serve a drug warrant, FOX 29 Philadelphia reported. A suspect inside allegedly fired two shots through the wall.
One of them struck the lead officer in his body armor.
The suspect attempted to flee, but police arrested him near the scene, according to the station.
It caps off a vicious whirlwind against police that saw 13 officers shot in the line of duty in the span of a single day, across four different states, according to the National Fraternal Order of Police, which issued a statement condemning the violence.
“Enough is enough,” FOP President Patrick Yoes said Friday night.
“Last year was one of the most dangerous years for law enforcement, with more officers shot in the line of duty since the FOP began recording this data,” he said. “There was also a 115% increase in the number of ambush-style attacks.”
The 13 officers wounded Friday each sustained gunshot-related injuries. The shootings happened in Arizona, Maryland, New Mexico and Pennsylvania.
“When a member of the public calls for help, law enforcement officers answer that call,” Yoes said. “Now is the time for our elected officials at every level of government to answer our call and support law enforcement and address the violent crime terrorizing our communities and the surging increase of violence against police officers.”
