In the name of the Koran and in solidarity with ISIS, Edward Archer attempted to kill the officer in an ambush. He used a stolen police 9mm weapon, stolen in 2013 and unloaded the entire magazine. The officer, Jesse Hartnett took 3 gunshot wounds into his arm, was able to immediately give chase and to shoot Archer when other officers soon arrived on the scene.
Archer has a deep history and the prosecutor has chosen not to prosecute on several previous criminal acts. The other question is , did he become radicalized with militant inspired sympathies when he was in fact doing time in prison.
According to court records, he was scheduled to be sentenced Monday in a Delaware County traffic-accident case. He was found guilty in a November non-jury trial of forging documents, careless driving, driving with a suspended or revoked license, and related offenses.
Judge Richard Cappelli recalled that Archer defended himself. “He didn’t want the public defender,” Cappelli added, because Archer said that the the public defender didn’t’ believe his story.
In Philadelphia, he was sentenced in March to nine to 23 months in jail and two years probation in an assault case. He was immediately paroled. Read much more here.
Officer Hartnett was on the force for 5 years and enlisted in the Coast Guard directly after 9/11. He will require several surgeries and will likely have long term nerve damage.
The shooter, Archer, age 30 has a long record:
PhillyInquirer: While not classifying the shooting as a terrorist attack, police said Friday that the man arrested after shooting and wounding a police officer in an ambush in West Philadelphia Thursday night confessed he acted “in the name of Islam.”
Police Commissioner Richard Ross said the weapon used to wound Officer Jesse Hartnett was a police 9mm semiautomatic pistol stolen in 2013 from an officer’s home.
Capt. James Clark, homicide unit commander, said suspect Edward Archer told detectives: “I follow Allah. I pledge my allegiance to the Islamic State. That is why I did what I did.”
“He confessed to committing this act in the name of Islam,” Ross said at a news conference Friday afternoon.
He said the suspect told detectives he believed police enforced laws counter to Islam.
Archer’s mother has indicated that he is mentally ill and Ross said investigators do not know yet if the suspect was indeed radicalized or tied to terrorism.Friday afternoon, police and agents with the FBI’s Terrorism Task Force searched a house in Yeadon and another location in West Philadelphia, both associated with Archer.
Investigators are also scouring Archer’s Internet activity to see if he may have had contact with ISIS members or other radical Islamic groups. A law enforcement source said Friday that, so far, they had not found any record that Archer had contact with known terrorism suspects. Federal authorities are also looking into a trip Archer took to Egypt in 2012, that source said.
“We will see where the investigation leads us,” said Ross, adding that officers were executing search warrants.
Mayor Kenney stressed that whatever the gunman’s motive, it had “nothing to do” with Islam.
Jacob Bender, executive director of the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, said more investigation is needed.
“We need more information,” Bender said. “Was he in contact with any bona fide terrorist or anything like that? We don’t know.”
He said Archer’s name was not immediately familiar to some of the imams with whom he spoke Friday morning.
Echoing statements by Kenney and other officials, Bender said: “This should not be seen as representative of Muslims or the faith of Islam.”
Hartnett was wounded about 11:40 p.m. Thursday when a gunman unloaded a semiautomatic pistol into the officer’s marked cruiser at 60th and Spruce Streets, authorities said.
Hartnett, 33, was hit three times in the arm and taken to Penn Presbyterian Hospital, where he was reported to be in stable condition but faces a long recovery, authorities said.
Archer, 30, of Yeadon, was wounded by return fire from Harnett and taken into custody after attempting to flee, police said. Officers recovered a black, 9mm semiautomatic pistol, its slide locked to the rear.
The shooter in the attack is seen wearing a long white robe over dark pants on surveillance video, but Ross said he did not know if it was Muslim garb.
The FBI has been notified of the attack, but the agency Philadelphia Police Department remains the lead in the investigation.
The shooting came on Kenney’s and Ross’ first week in their jobs and both rushed to the hospital after the shooting.
Ross said the officer was driving north on 60th Street when the gunman jumped out and strode toward the police cruiser, firing 13 times and pocking the cruiser with bullets before shooting into the driver’s side window.
Wounded three times in the left arm, Hartnett got out of the car and chased his assailant, squeezing off three rounds and hitting the suspect in the buttocks, police said.
Officers caught Archer on the 6000 block of Delancey Street. He was treated at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania before being taken to Police Headquarters for questioning.
Neighbors said they heard a torrent of gunfire from the street, and then police sirens and helicopters as officers from around the city rushed to the scene.
“There were tons and tons of police, coming from every direction,” said Tyesha Fisher, 36, who lives at 60th and Spruce Streets, feet from where authorities say Archer opened fire.
Of Hartnett, Ross said: “The bravery he demonstrated was absolutely remarkable.”
He repeatedly expressed surprise that the officer survived.
“This guy tried to execute the police officer,” the commissioner said early Friday morning.
The officer suffered a broken arm and nerve damage and has “a lot of recovery ahead of him,” Ross said.
Kenney said the shooting showed the sacrifices officers make and highlighted the city’s gun-violence problem.
“There are too many guns on our streets,” putting both police and civilians in harm’s way, he said.
Hartnett’s father, Robert Hartnett, 58, called his son “a very quality young man.”
“He has good determination and he’s always wanted to help people and be a policeman,” the elder Hartnett said.
It was around midnight that police officers arrived at Robert Hartnett’s house in East Lansdowne and transported him to the hospital to be with his son.
“It was shocking but the officers were very excellent and comforted me and got me down there,” he said. “Jesse was groggy when they finally got him out but he was aware of his surroundings and knew what was going on.”
Robert Hartnett said his son’s survival is “a miracle.”
Hartnett said his son served 14 years in with the U.S. Coast Guard. A spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard, Chief Nick Ameen, confirmed Jesse Hartnett’s service and said he joined shortly after Sept. 11, 2001 and was active duty until Aug. 2008. Jesse Hartnett served in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves until November 2015, Ameen said.
Jesse Hartnett was also an officer with the East Lansdowne police force from Sept. 2010 until July 2011, according to East Lansdowne Police Chief John Zimath.
“He was a good officer. Actually, he was a great officer,” Zimath said of Hartnett. “He was very well-liked in the community.”
In the meantime, details of Archer’s background gradually emerged Friday.
Reached at her home in Lansdowne, his mother, Valerie Holliday, said Archer was the eldest of seven children and suffered head injuries from playing football and a moped accident. Unfortunately, moped accidents do happen and can be quite serious, which is why it is always best to compare moped insurance before you start riding your moped.
“He’s been acting kind of strange lately. He’s been talking to himself . . . laughing and mumbling,” Holliday said. “He’s been hearing voices in his head. We asked him to get medical help.”
She said her son is a devout Muslim who has practiced the faith “for a long time.”
“He’s going through a lot lately,” Holliday said, adding that Archer believed he was targeted by police.
“I don’t know how he got the gun,” she said. “I’m still hoping they have the wrong child.”
Archer was scheduled to be sentenced Monday in a Delaware County case, according to court records. He was found guilty in a November nonjury trial of forging documents, careless driving, driving with a suspended or revoked license and other related offenses.
In Philadelphia, he was sentenced in March to nine to 23 months in jail and two years consecutive probation in an assault case. He was immediately paroled. He was charged with aggravated assault, conspiracy, firearms offenses and terroristic threats for a January 2012 incident but pleaded guilty to simple assault and carrying a gun without a license.
According to court files, on Jan. 31, 2012, Archer had threatened another man with a gun at a house on Alden Street, near 57th and Spruce, in West Philadelphia, then briefly chased the victim outside.
The victim, Roy Walker, told police that about 4:10 p.m. that day, his girlfriend’s father came to the house and argued with him about the relationship.
Walker said the father pushed him out the door and he then saw two men he didn’t know get out of a parked Jeep Cherokee. One of the men – Archer – who had a long beard and skull cap, pulled out a small black-and-silver handgun and pointed it at Walker’s stomach while grabbing his shirt, Walker told police. Walker said he broke free and ran, and Archer briefly chased him before leaving.
Sometime after the January 2012 incident, Archer apparently went to Egypt. It was not immediately clear why he went there.
When he returned to the U.S. on Dec. 2, 2012, he was taken into custody by New York authorities because of his outstanding arrest warrant from the January 2012 case.
Archer was held in a New York City jail until mid-April 2013, when he was brought back to Philadelphia. He posted bail two weeks later.
Defense attorney Doug Dolfman, who represented Archer at bail hearings in Philadelphia Municipal Court, said Friday that Archer’s mother had told him her son had been in Egypt. He said he did not know why his former client had traveled there.
Philadelphia police officers took to social media to express support for their wounded colleague.
“Thank the lord that one of own will recover after being ambushed & shot last night. Please use extreme caution while out on patrol!!” a message from the 14th District’s official Twitter account said.
Raymond Niglio, an officer in the Third District, called Hartnett a “true hero.” He tweeted: “Great job brother. Get well. We stand with you, you are never alone.”
Gov. Wolf issued a statement saying, “We are thankful that Officer Hartnett is alive and not facing life-threatening injuries after being ambushed.”
“This alleged intentional act of violence against an officer seeking to help a fellow citizen is horrifying and has no place in Pennsylvania.”
Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) called the shooting “an act of barbarism” and said he was pleased that federal authorities were working on the case with local police.
“Those who carry out attacks in the name of ISIS or any other terrorist organization must be fully prosecuted,” he said, but added: “This individual and any who would advocate similar acts are not representative of any religion – they are thugs and criminals.”
Rep. Patrick Meehan (D., Pa.) praised Hartnett’s “tremendous heroism” and said he found Archer’s statements about the Islamic State “troubling,” and called for federal investigators to investigate any possible ties to “overseas radical groups.”
A study by the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Policing, released in October, found that the number of ambush attacks on police officers has been relatively steady, at about 200 per year, since a decline in the 1990s. The report found a small uptick in ambush attacks against officers in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
“Concerns about targeted violence against police are on the rise, while officers must not only be guardians of the public but also be prepared to respond to violence targeting them,” the report said.
