City Stunned After Officer Killed

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia mourns the sixth on-duty officer killed in the line of duty since October 2007. Officer John Pawlowski was apparently executed by man with a .357 Magnum in the city's Logan section on Friday night.

Slideshow: Images From Shooting Scene

25-year-old Officer John Pawlowski, a 5 1/2 year veteran on the force, 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 35th District police 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."

An irate Mayor Michael Nutter called for measures to let the city curb violent crime against officers.

"How many more times will this happen, before we get weapons off the street, individuals off the street," Nutter said. "How many more times until people do what is right."

Video:   See Nutter And Ramsay's Press Conference

Nutter has frequently battled with state officials over Philadelphia's right to control guns in the city.

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, identified as Rasheed Shrugs. Shrugs was in surgery and listed in critical condition late Friday, Ramsey said.

Police recovered a .357 Magnum from the scene.

Fox 29 News has learned Shrugs has nine prior arrests and was out on parole.

"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.

Fox 29 News first met Officer Pawlowski last year. He put himself in harm's way, boarding a SEPTA bus to stop a man with a gun. He wrestled the gun away from the man, and helped take him into custody.

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.