A man who was caught on video shooting a Philadelphia police officer has confessed to the shooting in the name of Islam. Edward Archer shot officer Jesse Hartnett at close range several times and is claiming ties to the terrorist group, ISIS.
The disturbing images of the 30-year-old Archer running up to Hartnett’s patrol vehicle and unloading his weapon were widely shared across various media outlets in the form of the aforementioned video. The shooting took place late Thursday (Jan. 7) night and Hartnett actually gave chase to the suspect despite losing a large amount of blood.
More from WPVI:
Officials say the suspect in custody for the shooting that seriously injured a Philadelphia police officer has confessed to the crime, saying he did it ‘in the name of Islam.’
Commissioner Richard Ross provided that update during a news conference on Friday afternoon. He said there was no indication from the suspect, 30-year-old Edward Archer of Yeadon, that he was involved in a conspiracy.
Archer had pledged his allegiance to ISIS, officials say, calling the shooting “an attempted assassination of a police officer.”
Ross went on to say that Archer “stopped short of implicating anyone else in the attack,” adding Archer was “very evasive.”
Adding to the still developing details of the case, the gun that Archer used was a stolen police officer’s service weapon that was taken from a home. The video shows Archer placing his entire arm in the car as he attempted to execute Hartnett before running off.
Archer fired 13 shots, with three hitting Hartnett in the arm. Hartnett, a five-year veteran of the force, is expected to survive his wounds. Newly named commissioner Richard Ross has been addressing media for much of the day.
Watch WPVI’s report below. A Warning: the images shown in the video may be disturbing to some.
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Photo: WPVI
