He and his fellow SWAT officers had tried to issue an arrest warrant to one of the blacks.
The end result was quite predictable.
A little more than a month after a Philadelphia police officer was killed in a shooting, two more individuals were charged in his murder. On March 13, Philadelphia SWAT forces serving a felony arrest warrant led to the killing of Sgt. James O’Connor.
Investigators say the 46-year-old was one of eight SWAT members who entered a Frankford home to arrest 21-year-old murder suspect Hassan Elliott when the suspect fired a rifle through a door, striking and killing O’Connor.
“Myself and my assistant chief, Joanne Pescatore, have literally worked every day since March 13th combing through a variety of evidence,” said Anthony Voci, the district attorney’s chief of the homicide unit.
On Friday, that hard work led to additional murder charges for two men – Bilal Mitchell and Khalif Sears – who investigators say were both inside that room with Elliott.
“They are charged with the murder of Sgt. O’Connor and the attempted murder of his seven SWAT team members. We are additionally filing criminal conspiracy charges against Mitchell, Sears and Hassan Elliott as a result of our investigation,” Voci said.