A 15th Police District officer shot and killed a Port Richmond man early Saturday near a Frankford bar.
Jose Torres, 18, of the 2200 block of East Cambria St. was pronounced dead shortly after 2 a.m. July 21, according to Lt. Raymond Evers. He had been shot once.
At about 2 a.m., two uniformed officers in a marked car had stopped in front of Timmy’s Place, a bar at Worth and Orthodox streets, where there was a crowd of about a dozen people, Evers said.
“It was a bar that was known to have some issues,” Evers said, adding police check on it regularly. Some guns previously had been found in the bar, he said.
When the officers got out of their patrol car to clear the corner, one man started to run down the 4600 block of Worth St. One officer shouted that the man had a gun and another officer started chasing the man on foot.
Evers said the pursuing officer saw Torres throw away a gun but continue to hold his waistband. Torres stopped and turned while holding his waistband, and the officer, thinking the man had another weapon, fired, striking him once, Evers said.
Paramedics were called, but pronounced Torres dead. A loaded 9mm handgun was found on Worth Street, Evers said. No other weapon was found, he said.
Evers would not identify the 35-year-old officer. The lieutenant said the officer will be investigated by the District Attorney’s Office, the police department’s internal affairs unit and IA’s shooting team to see if any criminal charges are warranted and if all departmental regulations on the use of deadly force were followed.
All police officers who discharge their weapons are subjected to those three parallel investigations, Evers said.
“Any time that gun goes off, unless it’s at the range, it’s going to be investigated,” Evers said. ••
