A tale of heroism: University of Pennsylvania Police Officer Eddie Miller, pictured with Penn’s vice president for public safety Maureen Rush, talked with reporters during Monday night’s Eagles viewing party at the FOP Lodge 5 hall. WILLIAM KENNY / TIMES PHOTO
Mere days after he came face to face with a killer on a shooting rampage and hours following his release from a hospital, University of Pennsylvania Police Officer Eddie Miller chatted almost casually with news reporters during Monday night’s Eagles viewing party at the FOP Lodge 5 hall.
When asked about what he remembers of the deadly Sept. 16 confrontation, Miller, 56, quipped, “It’s a night I’d like to forget.”
When asked for his thoughts on the surveillance video in which the wounded officer can be seen limping for cover and stumbling to the ground, Miller said he looks like “a fat guy rolling around.”
Then someone asked Miller if he had ever encountered a similar episode during his 35-year career in law enforcement.
“No, because I got shot this time,” he said dryly.
Miller, a Harrowgate native, Northeast Catholic graduate and Winchester Park resident, joked a lot while answering 10 minutes of inquiries with a calm demeanor that belied his recent brush with his own mortality. But as if there were any doubts about his ordeal, Miller has the scars to prove it.
Bullets penetrated and exited his right hip and right ankle. A slug also grazed his right elbow. Yet, he considers himself the lucky one.
Minutes before shooting Miller, 25-year-old Nicholas Glenn fired 18 rounds at Philadelphia police Sgt. Sylvia Young as she sat in a marked patrol car at 52nd and Sansom streets in West Philadelphia. A half-dozen shots struck Young, 46, in the left arm, shoulder and torso. Authorities say that body armor probably saved her life. She was released from a hospital on Tuesday.
Glenn also shot four civilians, including one fatally, in a half-hour frenzy of violence spanning several city blocks. Police have identified the fatality as Sara Silah, 25, who was riding in a car that Glenn randomly targeted.
But if it weren’t for Miller and his colleagues in blue, the death toll may have been much worse. Glenn ultimately died in a shootout with Philadelphia police in an alley off of South 48th Street. Glenn used a 9-millimeter pistol and several ammunition clips to squeeze off at least 51 rounds during the spree, police say.
“When I hired Ed two years ago, I knew he was a pro. And he did a fabulous job that night,” said Maureen Rush, Penn’s vice president for public safety. “His 35 years of law enforcement kicked in and he knew exactly what to do.
“When he heard an officer calling for an assist, and a second assist and a third assist, that’s what officers do. He wanted to protect people and he did a darn good job.”
Miller has been protecting people perhaps less conspicuously since he joined the Philadelphia police force in 1981.
“I didn’t go into the military when I got out of high school (in 1978),” he said. “I became a cop. I first took the test when I was 18, then took it a second time when I was 21 and got on (the force). I had relatives on the job and knew that’s what I wanted to be.”
He spent much of his career in the 18th district on the same West Philly streets that he now patrols for Penn.
“We’re always in support of one another. They’re on our campus and we’re in their area,” Miller said. “I started in the 18th district, and they’ll always be family to me. (As a cop), you’re there for everybody. You’re there for one another.”
His assistance was much needed when the shooting began at about 11:18 p.m. Authorities aren’t exactly sure why Glenn targeted Young in the first place. Police found a note in his pocket with which the gunman, an ex-convict, allegedly professed his hatred for his probation and parole officers, as well as police.
After shooting her, Glenn walked eastbound on Sansom and shot a doorman and barmaid who were in the doorway of a tavern, police claim. Near 50th Street, Glenn shot at a car, wounding the male driver and Silah multiple times. The driver survived.
On the 4800 block of Sansom, Glenn shot multiple times at a marked police SUV, but both officers inside escaped harm. According to an official police account, Miller was next to confront Glenn in a nearby alley. Miller and Rush declined to provide details of the encounter, citing ongoing investigations by the police Homicide Unit and the District Attorney’s Office.
After Miller found cover, Philadelphia police converged and neutralized the threat.
On Monday, Miller deviated briefly from his mild demeanor when asked for his thoughts on his wife and two children.
“I called them on the way to the hospital and they were the first ones I wanted to see because they mean a lot to me,” Miller said with a slight break in his voice. “I was happy to see them, very happy.”
Yet, he’s also looking forward to returning to active duty sooner than later.
“It’s in my blood. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said. ••
“It’s a night I’d like to forget:” University of Pennsylvania Police Officer Eddie Miller was shot multiple times Friday night in West Philadelphia. Shooter Nicholas Glenn also wounded Philadelphia police Sgt. Sylvia Young and four civilians, including one fatally. PHOTO: PHILADELPHIA POLICE DEPARTMENT
