A Philadelphia police officer died after being shot in the head Thursday afternoon during an attempted robbery of a video-game store in North Philadelphia, officials said. Two suspects, one of whom was shot, were in custody.
The officer, Robert Wilson III, was an eight-year veteran and father of two young children. He was 30.
The events that led to his death, as described by city officials, were the product of unfortunate timing.
"This," Mayor Nutter said, "is one more example of the dangers police officers and law enforcement personnel face on a regular basis."
Two men, Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said, intended to rob a GameStop store at 21st Street and Lehigh Avenue in the Swampoodle neighborhood. Wilson, as part of his patrol duties in the 22d District, was inside the store.
The assailants were armed two handguns and started shooting at Wilson. The call for "officer down" came at 4:44 p.m.
"He was doing his duty as a police officer to protect the citizens of this city," Nutter said at a news conference near Temple University Hospital, where Wilson was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m.
One of the assailants was shot in the leg and taken to Einstein Medical Center. The other, while hiding his weapon under his clothing, attempted to blend into the crowd. He was apprehended at the scene, Ramsey said. Both men, Ramsey said, had prior arrests. They were not identified.
Wilson was shot at least twice.
He was a volunteer in the department's body-camera program, but it was not immediately known whether he was wearing one Thursday, Ramsey said.
The commissioner met Wilson during the program's introduction in December.
"He was one of the best police officers this city has to offer," Ramsey said.
Nutter, in asking people to pray for Wilson's family, said to "never forget him."
