Police officers shot and killed a man on an Oxford Circle street on Saturday morning after he allegedly charged at them with a butcher knife.
Patrol officers from the 2nd district went to the 1400 block of Robbins Ave. at about 6:40 a.m. in response to a report of a person with a knife, according to Lt. John Stanford, a Philadelphia police spokesman. Upon their arrival, they saw a man holding a seven-inch butcher knife, bleeding and running through the street.
One officer used the bumper of his patrol car to knock the man to the ground, but the subject got up with the knife still in-hand, Stanford said. Police ordered him to drop the weapon, but he advanced toward the officers instead.
The officers shot the man, said Stanford, who did not disclose the number or nature of the man’s wounds. Even then, he continued to struggle with multiple officers before they subdued him and took the knife. A witness confirmed this account of events, Stanford said.
Paramedics took the critically injured man to Aria Health-Torresdale, where he was pronounced dead at 9:17 a.m. Police did not release his identity. He was 23 years old. ••
