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The Philadelphia Police Union is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect in the strange — and so far unexplained — shooting that injured two officers during the annual July 4th fireworks display on Ben Franklin Street.
A city employee suffered a laceration to the head and a Montgomery County sheriff’s deputy suffered a gunshot wound to the right shoulder in the shooting, which erupted almost immediately at the start of fireworks over Philadelphia Art around 9:45 p.m. Monday night. Both were treated and released from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
They were identified Tuesday as City Officer Sergio Diggs, 36, and Deputy John Foster, 44. Diggs is a 13-year veteran of the PPD.
“We were inches away from planning a funeral for at least one brave Philadelphia Highway Patrol officer because the bullet lodged in his hat,” Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5 President John McNesby said Tuesday as he offered the cash award. “There are too many guns on our streets and too many people acting recklessly with these deadly weapons.
A photo provided to NBC10 by McNesby shows a bullet lodged in the officer’s hat, grazed in the head. Inside the cap was a memorial card for a Philadelphia police chaplain who had recently passed away.
A bullet, outlined in red, can be seen lodged in the hat of a Philadelphia police officer who is recovering from a laceration to his forehead, according to this photo provided by the Fraternal Order of Police.
“The fact that the bullet stopped in his hat is miraculous,” said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Daniel Outlaw.
The officer grazed in the head is a 36-year-old police patrolman and the other is a 44-year-old Montgomery County sheriff’s deputy, the commissioner said. Both were part of the festival’s security, she said.
McNesby echoed Outlaw, describing how incredible it was that the bullet stopped halfway through the cop’s hat.
“The Philadelphia Freeway Patrolman was carrying a funeral card in his hat honoring our recently deceased priest, Father Stephen Wetzel,” McNesby said. “Father Steve has always supported and advised our officers over the years and even now he continues to do wonders for our heroes.”
Philadelphia Police Officer Sergio Diggs, a 13-year veteran, suffered a laceration to the head from a bullet fired on July 4, 2022.
MCSO Dept. John Foster and a Philadelphia police officer were wounded by gunfire last night while providing security for July 4th celebrations.
Foster and the officer were treated and released from the hospital
The MCSO family thanks you for your well wishes and support. pic.twitter.com/S2xwzIjoTM
— Montco Sheriff (@MontCoPASheriff) July 5, 2022
The shooter was not immediately arrested or identified. It’s unclear whether the officers were targeted or were hit during a “celebratory shooting” amid Fourth of July festivities, Outlaw said.
“The good news is that both officers have since been treated and released and what really could have been a chaotic scene or a catastrophic scene was not today,” she said.
The shooting erupted around 9:47 p.m. near the Philadelphia Museum of Art during the finale of the 16-day Wawa Welcome America festival as crowds of people watched a fireworks show after a concert headlined by Jason Derulo on the boardwalk, police said.
The shots struck officers along the 2500 block of Spring Garden Street, behind where the concert took place, Outlaw said. Various people were seen fleeing the area. Police instructed people in surrounding buildings to shelter in place.
“I didn’t hear the shots, but the cops said, ‘Run, run, run,'” one woman told NBC10.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Jim Kenney apologized for comments he made shortly after the shooting. He said he looks forward to the time when he is no longer mayor. Several elected city officials called Kenney’s remarks a lack of leadership amid a gun violence crisis, including one city councilman who called for Kenney to resign.
“When I express that frustration and people react to it the way they did, that’s understandable,” Kenney said in an interview with NBC10. “But I’m still a human being and I have feelings and emotions and being mayor doesn’t make you a robot.
He added: “Again I apologize for being disappointed, but I take my job personally and I take personally the problems we face. And I apologize for wearing my emotions on my sleeve.”
NBC10’s Leah Uko was doing an interview when people started running away from gunshots during the July 4th celebration.
NBC10 had various reporters in the area covering the festival.
Reporter Leah Uko reported a “scramble” of people running towards the concert stage. Uko was interviewing a group of teenagers when an NBC10 cameraman captured the moments when people, including various visibly distressed children, began screaming and scattering.
Fellow reporter Karen Hua reported that she was lying in the dirt in a tent with other people.
The shooting came the same day a gunman opened fire at a Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, killing six and wounding dozens of others before being taken into custody.
Around 11 p.m., officers using flashlights could be seen searching an area from near 19th Street and Park to Eakins Oval, a search that was not immediately fruitful.
Various people sought shelter at the Park Towne Place apartments, which are right next to the park. They asked residents to “remain calm” during police activity “on site, throughout the community”. All towers at the complex were locked down “until we have additional information,” the company said in an email.
Two officers were shot during the Wawa Welcome America’s Party on the Parkway Monday night, police said. As the fireworks went off, thousands dispersed, including NBC10’s Karen Hua, who described from her own perspective the terror that gripped Center City.
Residents were later allowed back in. Police officers at the complex told an NBC10 producer that their search there ultimately had nothing to do with the shooting.
The Ben Franklin Parkway remained closed Tuesday morning as cleanup crews worked to clear the debris.
There are additional resources for individuals or communities who have experienced gun violence in Philadelphia. Additional information can be found here.
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