An officer on Saturday shot and critically wounded a robbery suspect who police said pointed a shotgun at them near Levick and Vandike streets.
Police said two 15th District officers at 10:37 p.m. spotted a man who matched the description of a robber wanted for a Ditman Street stickup that had occurred a half-hour earlier.
According to police, the man fled into the parking lot of a nearby Rite Aid store when the officers, both in uniform in a marked patrol car, tried to stop him.
When the officers pursued him, he drew a sawed-off shotgun from his coat and turned toward the officers, police said, and one of the officers fired his weapon at the man, hitting him several times.
Police said the man, who was not identified, had held up two men on the 6300 block of Ditman Street at 10:13 p.m. He had pointed his shotgun at the pair and got $500 from them. The men called 9–1–1 to report the robbery.
The victims identified the man police shot before he was taken to Aria Health’s Torresdale campus in critical condition. No one else was injured.
The defendant’s shotgun was a 20-gauge Mossberg Model 500-C that was loaded with five shells, police said. The officer who shot the defendant is on administrative duty while the shooting is investigated, police said. ••
