A Temple University police officer was shot and killed this evening near 17th Street and Montgomery Avenue near the campus. The officer was responding to a robbery at a nearby convenience store, university officials said. The suspect then reportedly carjacked a student car before fleeing the area.
The identity of the officer was being withheld. The officer was pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital.
Temple officials released a statement in response to the shooting:
Temple University is heartbroken to confirm that a Temple University police officer was shot at 1700 W. Montgomery Avenue while trying to apprehend the suspect in a robbery of a convenience store located at the corner of Cecil B. Moore and 15th Street. The officer was later pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital.
Both the Philadelphia Police Department and the Temple University Police Department are still gathering information regarding the incident. Out of respect for the officer’s friends and family, we will not be releasing his identity at this time.
There are simply no words that can make sense of such a tragedy. It tears at our sense of community, and wounds us to our very soul. Temple has lost an officer and hero to senseless violence. Our thoughts are with the victim’s family, friends and the entire Temple community during this tremendously difficult time.
-Temple University
