PHILADELPHIA _ A gunman ambushed a Philadelphia police sergeant late Friday night in West Philadelphia, firing more than a dozen rounds before taking off, and then shot four civilians and a University of Pennsylvania police officer during his flight before he was finally cornered and killed by police.
One of the civilians died.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross identified the gunman Saturday as Nicholas Glenn, 25, of West Philadelphia.
The shooting rampage started about 11:18 p.m. when Glenn walked up to a marked police cruiser and began firing, police said. The female police sergeant sitting inside the car was shot once in her left arm, police said. She and another officer, who was later shot, were both reported stable Saturday at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.
One of the four civilians who was shot, a 25-year-old woman who had been sitting in a car, died. The woman, whose name was not released, was shot seven times in her torso.
The three other civilians who were shot �� a 36-year-old man shot twice in his left arm and once in his right arm; a 42-year-old man shot twice in his left leg; and a 41-year-old woman shot once in her right ankle �� were stable Saturday afternoon, police said.
Police later cornered Glenn in an alley a few yards down the block.
Ross called the chain of events "a completely bizarre situation."
In the hours after the shootings, police flooded the area looking for possible accomplices, but after a couple of hours determined that the shooter had acted alone.
"We believe this is isolated to this individual," Ross said.
Ross said police found a "rambling" letter allegedly written by the gunman in which he expressed hatred toward police and probation officers.
According to court records, Glenn had a history of drug-possession convictions in Philadelphia. He had also been arrested and charged in connection with a gang-related rape in a November 2009 incident, but these charges were later dropped.
