Police officers fatally shot a 27-year-old Black man armed with a knife during a confrontation Monday afternoon in West Philadelphia that quickly raised tensions in the neighborhood
Late into the night, growing anger turned into a violent standoff at the local police district headquarters with several police officers injured by bricks or other objects hurled from the crowd. Late Monday into early Tuesday, police struggled to respond to vandalism and looting along the commercial corridor of 52nd Street. At least one police vehicle was set on fire and destroyed.
The episode began shortly before 4 p.m., police said, when two officers responded to the 6100 block of Locust Street after a report of a man with a knife. Family members identified him as Walter Wallace Jr.
A video posted on social media showed that Wallace was an undetermined distance from the officers and appeared to be multiple feet from them when they fired numerous shots. The video depicts Wallace walking toward the officers and police backing away. The video then swings briefly out of view, and in that moment, police fire at Wallace.
Police spokesperson Sgt. Eric Gripp said officers were called to the block and encountered a man who was holding a knife. Gripp said the officers ordered him to drop the weapon, and he “advanced towards the officers.” Gripp said investigators are reviewing footage of what happened. Both officers were wearing body cameras.
He said both officers fired “several times.” After the man was shot, he fell to the ground, and Gripp said one of the officers drove him to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.
Gripp said it was unclear how many times the man was shot or where he was struck. The officers fired possibly a dozen or more times, according to an account by witnesses and family members. Police marked the crime scene with at least 13 evidence markers.
Both officers were taken off street duty pending an investigation.
Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw arrived at the scene shortly after the incident as a crowd of neighbors yelled at police and questioned the use of force. By 6:30 p.m. police reopened the street and the crowd had largely dispersed
Dozens of protesters then gathered at Malcolm X Park at 51st and Pine Streets, chanting “Black Lives Matter.” They marched to the police station at 55th and Pine Streets as they chanted, “Say his name: Walter Wallace.”
Protesters confronted police who stood in a line with riot shields behind metal barricades at the police station at 55th and Pine Street and remained there in a standoff for several hours. People in the crowd could be seen throwing objects at the officers. A group also marched into University City, at least one TV news vehicle was vandalized, and police reported that windows had been broken on Chestnut Street.
Walter Wallace Sr., the man’s father, said his son appeared to have been shot 10 times.
“Why didn’t they use a taser?” Wallace Sr. asked outside a family residence on the block. “His mother was trying to diffuse the situation.”
Wallace Sr. said his son struggled with mental health issues and was on medication. “He has mental issues. Why you have to gun him down?”
Mayor Jim Kenney, in a statement Monday night, pledged a full investigation. “My prayers are with the family and friends of Walter Wallace,” he said. “I have watched the video of this tragic incident and it presents difficult questions that must be answered. I spoke tonight with Mr. Wallace’s family, and will continue to reach out to hear their concerns firsthand, and to answer their questions to the extent that I am able.”
Outlaw, too, said the department would conduct an inquiry. “Residents have my assurance that those questions will be fully addressed by the investigation,” she said. “While at the scene this evening, I heard and felt the anger of the community. Everyone involved will forever be impacted. I will be leaning on what the investigation gleans to answer the many unanswered questions that exist. I also plan to join the Mayor in meeting with members of the community and members of Mr. Wallace’s family to hear their concerns as soon as it can be scheduled.”
Maurice Holloway was on the street talking to his aunt when he saw police arrive. Wallace had a knife and was standing on the porch of his home, Holloway said, and officers immediately drew their guns.
Wallace’s mother was with him and chased after him as he walked down the steps of his porch, still holding the knife. His mother tried to shield him, Holloway said, and tell police he was her son.
“I’m yelling, ‘put down the gun, put down the gun,’ and everyone is saying, ‘don’t shoot him, he’s gonna put it down, we know him,’” said Holloway, 35.
The woman tried to grab her son, but he brushed her off and walked behind a car before emerging again, Holloway said.
“He turns and then you hear the shots,” Holloway said.
“They were too far from him,” he said, “it was so many shots.”
Arnett Woodall, a community organizer who lives a few blocks away, came to the scene shortly after the incident. He said he immediately saw how many evidence markers were in the street and felt it was “a textbook example of excessive force.”
Then he saw the video. “Why not a warning shot?” Woodall, 56, asked. “Why not a Taser? Why not a shot in the leg?”
He said the incident shows why police must implement stronger community policing protocols and why the city should invest in town watch programs.
“The city of Philadelphia can do better,” he said.
District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a statement Monday evening: “The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office takes its obligation to try to be fair and to seek evenhanded justice seriously. The DAO Special Investigations Unit responded to today’s fatal shooting of a civilian by police shortly after it occurred, and has been on scene with other DAO personnel since that time investigating.”
Krasner encouraged witnesses or others with information to contact the District Attorney’s Office.
”In the hours and days following this shooting, we ask Philadelphians to come together to uphold people’s freedom to express themselves peacefully and to reject violence of any kind,” he said.
John McNesby, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, said in a statement: “Our police officers are being vilified this evening for doing their job and keeping the community safe, after being confronted by a man with a knife. We support and defend these officers, as they too are traumatized by being involved in a fatal shooting.
“We ask the public for its patience as investigators work to gather all the facts of this tragic incident in West Philadelphia today.”