The Philadelphia district attorney on Sept. 20 filed an attempted-murder charge against a Frankford man whom police shot and critically wounded in April.
Joshua Taylor, 23, of the 4600 block of Worth St., allegedly pointed a gun at an off-duty police officer to prompt the officer to fire his own weapon at Taylor. Taylor was hospitalized for a single wound of the chest.
During his recovery, authorities conducted a “lengthy investigation” into the case, the DA’s office said in a printed statement. Initially, key details of the incident were a matter of dispute.
The shooting occurred at about 4 p.m. on April 25 on the 4600 block of Worth St. The officer, who has not been identified publicly, was helping a relative move into a house on the block when he allegedly saw Taylor carry a gun into a nearby home, authorities have said.
However, news reports at the time quoted witnesses who described a quarrel between Taylor and the officer, a 17-year police veteran assigned to West Philadelphia’s 18th district, over a parking spot.
According to the official account, when Taylor re-emerged into the street, the officer identified himself as a cop and ordered Taylor to drop the gun. Instead, Taylor allegedly pointed the weapon at the officer, then ran into another house. The officer followed the suspect and shot him once in the chest. Police recovered the suspect’s weapon at the scene.
But a woman identifying herself as the mother of Taylor’s two young children told news reporters a different version of events. Britney Britton said that the officer barged into the couple’s home without identifying himself as a police officer, glanced at her, then shot Taylor and ran away.
Taylor was carrying a gun and had a permit for it, Britton claimed at the time.
Taylor also has been charged with aggravated assault, assaulting a police officer, simple assault, reckless endangerment and carrying a firearm in public. He is jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail and is scheduled for an Oct. 6 preliminary hearing. ••
