PHILADELPHIA — The fatal police shooting of a Black man armed with a knife in the western side of Philadelphia sparked violent protests overnight, Law Officer reported.
As a result, police report at least 30 officers have been injured early Tuesday – including one sergeant who was reportedly struck by a pickup truck, Fox reported.
Hundreds of people took to the streets to protest the Monday afternoon shooting of Walter Wallace Jr., 27. They are calling it another example of police officers killing a Black man, disregarding the circumstances that led to the shooting. Demonstrators marched to a city police station while officers lined up behind metal barricades.
At least 35 people, including five juveniles, were arrested over the course of the night, a Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson said in an email to Fox News. Their charges have not been announced yet.
Moreover, five firearms were recovered from those arrested, according to police.
The demonstrations quickly turned violent as some protesters were seen throwing objects at officers.
Furthermore, police units and dumpsters were set on fire as officers struggled to contain the rioting crowds. More than a dozen officers, many with batons in hand, formed a line as they ran down 52nd Street chasing protesters away from the main thoroughfare. The crowd largely dispersed at the time.
Lauren Dawn Johnson, a reporter for FOX 29, took to Twitter to update her followers on the condition of the officers who suffered injuries.
Thirty officers were injured, most of them from being struck by projectiles such as bricks and rocks, according to preliminary information from police. A 56-year-old sergeant was hospitalized in stable condition with a broken leg and other injuries after she was struck by a pickup truck, while the other injured officers were treated and released, according to police and FOX 29.
Samantha Melamed, a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, posted an image of a man holding a toddler while facing a police officer. She tweeted that the man told his 3-year-old son, “This is what racism looks like. Take a look.”
The shooting occurred before 4 p.m. as officers responded to a report of a person with a weapon, police spokesperson Tanya Little said.
Officers were called to the Cobbs Creek neighborhood and encountered the man, later identified as Walter Wallace Jr., who was holding a knife, she said.
Officers ordered Wallace to drop the knife, but he instead “advanced toward” them. Both officers then fired “several times,” Little said.
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A demonstrative video emerged that reportedly showed the moments leading up to the shooting. It showed officers with weapons drawn at Wallace as he walks in the street and around a car. He advances toward the officers as they retreat from him in the street, firearms still aimed at him.
They yell at him to put his knife down. The two officers then fired several rounds and Wallace collapses in the street. A woman runs up to him screaming while several bystanders then approach him.
Although the video is unclear, witnesses confirmed that Wallace was holding a knife.
Wallace was hit in the shoulder and chest. One of the officers then put him in a police vehicle and drove him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later, Little said.
No officers or bystanders were injured in the shooting, Little said. The names of the officers who fired the shots were not immediately disclosed. Both were wearing body cameras and were taken off street duty pending the investigation, Fox reported.
Eyewitness Maurice Holloway told NBC he and other neighbors had tried to get Wallace to put down the knife before police arrived.
“That’s when it matters. He’s in our community, we’re not threatened by him because we know him,” Holloway said during a segment that aired Tuesday morning. “His mother tried to grab him, to console him.”
Walter Wallace Sr. told local reporters that his 27-year-old son had mental health issues and was on medication.
“Why didn’t they use a Taser? His mother was trying to diffuse the situation,” he said, according to local reports.
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