Philadelphia Police Officer Killed

PHILADELPHIA - A 35th District police officer was shot and killed while responding to a street fight Friday night, city officials said.

Slideshow: Images From Shooting Scene

Officer John Pawlowski, 25, was responding to a fight near Broad Street and Olney Avenue in the city's Logan section at about 8:20 p.m. when he was shot, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said. The officer was taken to Einstein Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Pawlowski is the city's sixth active duty officer to be killed in the line of duty in the last two years and the first killed in 2009.

"It's absolutely devastating to all of us," Ramsey said. "I've been in policing for 40 years and have never seen anything like this before."

The fight began with an argument between two men, Ramsey said. One said he was going to call the police, and the other responded, "If you call the police, I'll shoot you and the police," Ramsey said.

When officers responded, the gunman shot Pawlowski multiple times, the commissioner said.

Police returned fire, wounding the gunman, who was in surgery and listed in critical condition late Friday, Ramsey said.

Police recovered a .357 Magnum from the scene.

"We are very angry about this. We're very upset and we're in a lot of pain," said Mayor Michael Nutter. "It is beyond words to try to explain what it is like when these incidents take place. To be in a room where a wife, siblings, parents cry out in pain, asking the question, 'How many more times? How many more times will this happen before we see action.'"

"The city will not rest until we're able to take the necessary action to protect our police officers, to protect our citizens," continued Mayor Nutter.

Officer Pawlowski leaves behind a wife who is two-months-pregnant.

Officials said Pawlowski's brother was an officer who worked in the police dispatch radio room, and his father is a retired officer.

Officer Pawlowski was the subject of a Fox 29 News story last June when he was hailed as a hero for arresting an armed passenger on a SEPTA bus.

Four Philadelphia police officers were killed in the line of duty in 2008. In May, 39-year-old Stephen Liczbinski was fatally shot responding to a bank robbery. In September, 40-year-old Isabel Nazario was killed during a vehicle pursuit when the patrol car she was riding in got broadsided by a teenager driving a stolen SUV. Also in September, 30-year-old Patrick McDonald was fatally shot by a fugitive he had chased down after a traffic stop. And in November, Tim Simpson died in the line of duty.

In October 2007, 54-year-old Officer Chuck Cassidy was fatally shot when he interrupted a robbery at a Dunkin' Donuts.

In 2006, Officer Gary Skerski became the first officer killed in the line of duty in Philadelphia in a decade.

Pawlowski and Cassidy both worked out of the city's 35th District.