A 31-year-old man was shot by Philadelphia police a block from campus at about 3:25 p.m. on Oct. 26. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at Lankenau Hospital.    

A 35-year-old Philadelphia police officer was also shot in the leg during the incident, which occurred at 5710 Overbrook Ave. The officer is in stable condition at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. He was shot by another police officer, according to multiple media accounts.

Arthur Grover, director of St. Joe’s Office of Public Safety & Security, wrote in an email to The Hawk at 5:05 p.m. that it appeared, based on his communications with the Philadelphia Police Department, that the officer had been struck by “friendly fire.” 

Multiple St. Joe’s students reported hearing gunfire in the area at the time of the incident. 

Two officers had responded to a dispute between a landlord and tenant on Overbrook Avenue, according to Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, speaking at a press conference about three  hours after the shooting. Outlaw said the two officers from the 19th District entered the home and were met by a suspect wielding a hammer and pickaxe. 

Outlaw said when the man refused to drop the weapons, the 35-year-old officer responded by firing his taser, briefly knocking the man down.

The dispute moved outside where the man attacked the officers with the weapons, Outlaw said. The officers then discharged their guns. At some point, the officer who had discharged his taser was struck in the leg by a gunshot, she said.

The Philadelphia Police initially told local residents to stay inside, according to Eamonn O’Toole ’22, who lives on the 5700 block where the incident occurred. 

O’Toole was at home watching TV with his two roommates when they heard the gunshots outside. The men went outside to see what was going on.

“I saw two cops sprinting in the driveway,” O’Toole said. “I turned to my right and then instantly I saw 50 cops charging, guns drawn, and they charged straight past me.”

O’Toole said he saw another woman standing outside by the driveway.

“I saw her see the scene. Her face just completely dropped and her hands went into her face,” O’Toole said.

Caylah Harris, a community member who lives on Drexel Road, said the incident was “too close for comfort.”

“With the swarms of police, I said, ‘Something big just happened’ cause I heard the shots,” Harris said. “It sounded like a hammer.”

Jessica Gonzalez ’22 also saw the officers moving in as she was walking to her home on Overbrook Avenue. Gonzalez watched alongside a crowd of students who were returning after their 2:30 p.m. classes ended.

“Everyone was just confused as to what was happening,” Gonzalez said. “It was just madness for a good few minutes that we were standing there.”

Gonzalez was escorted to her house by an officer on the scene and told to stay inside and not leave.

“It was like two, three houses from us where [police officers] were all gathered,” Gonzalez said. “So we just basically ran inside and some of our roommates were already in here, and we just stayed in there for the rest of the time.”

This is a developing story.

Tayler Washington ’22 contributed to this story.