Police shot and killed a man outside St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in North Philadelphia on Thursday, authorities said.
Officers were called to the hospital shortly before 10:30 a.m. for a report by hospital staff of an “irate man,” said Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel.
At a briefing with the media Thursday evening, Bethel clarified that the man, whose name and age were not released, did not threaten anyone at the hospital.
“The hospital was at no time under threat,” Bethel said.
The man was at the hospital yesterday related to something involving a “child in the hospital,” Bethel said, then later adding that it was the man’s son.
The man was asked to leave Wednesday, and when he returned Thursday, he was not allowed to enter the hospital, said Bethel, who did not elaborate on why the man was asked to leave.
But when he returned Thursday, “he did not threaten” staff and was “compliant.”
Shortly thereafter, a relative called police and reported that the man was suicidal and may have a gun, Bethel said.
Police drove to the bus stop on Erie Avenue outside the hospital where the man was and an officer was just exiting from the passenger side of a police vehicle when the man allegedly pulled out a gun, Bethel said. The officer then fired.
The man was transported to Temple University Hospital, where he later died. Bethel said a gun was recovered at the scene.
A woman standing next to the man, who Bethel described as his girlfriend, was grazed by a bullet. He said she was in good condition.
“He did not fire his weapon,” Bethel said about the man.
The officer who fatally shot the man was placed on administrative duty while the shooting is investigated.
At an earlier media briefing, Bethel described the shooting as a tragedy that unfolded in a matter of minutes.
He added: “We have a lot to sort through,” including the mental state of the man who was killed. “He may have been going through some mental issue,” Bethel said.
No patients or hospital staff were injured, said hospital spokesperson Bill Tierney. The man who was shot did not come inside the hospital, he said.
The hospital initially went into a lockdown, which has since been lifted, Tierney said. Some entrances to the hospital were closed during the initial police investigation but they had reopened by Thursday afternoon, he said.
Police have not released the name, age, or rank of the officer who discharged his weapon.
Michael Lopez, a senior staffer at a sports complex across the street from the hospital, said he heard about a half dozen gunshots. Initially mistaking the gunfire for July Fourth fireworks, Lopez said he came out to Erie Avenue, where he saw a throng of police officers — and a woman he said appeared to be bleeding from her neck.
“It was gruesome,” Lopez said.
Thursday’s shooting was the second fatal shooting by a Philadelphia police officer in less than three weeks.
On June 14, three officers were injured and Eric Franks was fatally wounded after exchanging gunfire in the Wynnefield neighborhood of West Philadelphia. The officers — who were shot in the hip, leg, and face — were hospitalized and recovered, police said.
Their names had not been released as of Thursday because of an active threat assessment, said police spokesperson Sgt. Eric Gripp.
— Staff writer Robert Moran contributed to this article.
