A 30-year-old Philadelphia man captured after a police officer was ambushed and shot Friday told investigators he was acting "in the name of Islam," the city's police commissioner said.
The man used a 9mm handgun, which had been stolen from a police officer's home in 2013, to fire 13 rounds into Officer Jesse Harnett's cruiser early Friday. Hartnett was wounded, but has survived and is expected to make a full recovery.
Security camera video shows the shooter wearing a white robe running toward the police cruiser on a Philadelphia street, pointing the handgun at the officer and firing. The shooter reaches the car and fires at close range before turning away and running. He stops at one point to turn back toward the patrol car to fire again at the officer. Officer Hartnett, who was wounded at least four times in an arm, is then seen stepping out of the car and firing toward the attacker.
The suspect, identified as Edward Archer, "stated that he pledges his allegiance to the Islamic State, he follows Allah and that is the reason he was called upon to do this," Commissioner Richard Ross said. He said he targeted Hartnett because "police enforce laws contrary to the teachings of the Koran," Ross said.
