Phila. officer shot; gunman killed

Just six days after the funeral for Officer John Pawlowski, the circumstances yesterday were frighteningly familiar to a Police Department reeling from recent deaths: another officer shot by a criminal.

This time - in a city where five officers have been gunned down in the line of duty since May 2006 - the officer survived and the gunman died.

Major Crimes Detective Albert Ford, a 20-year veteran who is married and has four children, hobbled into Temple University Hospital with a wounded left thigh and called his family to say he was hurt.

"All we really can say at this point in time, we're just so fortunate that Detective Ford is going to be OK," Deputy Commissioner Richard Ross said. "In this city, we've just had a very, very tough time, and we're blessed that he survived his wounds."

The gunman, Kevin Robinson, 25, of North Philadelphia, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ford, 42, and a sergeant, part of a task force that serves warrants, were out to arrest Robinson on charges that he had shot his former girlfriend's uncle in an arm, Ross said.

In a sting, officials had notified Robinson that the city owed him money. When he called to collect, authorities obtained an address.

About noon, they tried to serve the warrant at a rowhouse at 1017 W. Indiana Ave., near Germantown Avenue. Robinson opened the door to the plainclothes officers, who were wearing police raid jackets, and a struggle ensued, Ross said.

Then Robinson "spins around on the officers and fires a gun" from hip level, striking Ford, Ross said. The assault, he added, was "eerily very close" to what had happened to Pawlowski, 25; a man had shot him with a gun concealed in his coat pocket at hip level.

Ford and the sergeant, whom police did not identify, returned fire, striking Robinson's head. Robinson stumbled into the street, collapsed, and died.

Ross was in a meeting with eight others, he said, when the alert on their BlackBerrys roused a collective fear: "Not again. Not again."

"Today, we're able to breathe a sigh of relief," Ross said.

As word spread that Ford would be OK, commanders tried to calm officers, sending out radio messages to resume patrols rather than rush to Temple.

At the scene, police recovered a .380-caliber semiautomatic Kel-Tec, Ross said.

It appeared the gun had been fired at least once.

Ross said Robinson's eight previous arrests had included robbery, burglary, and weapons offenses.

Robinson's family rushed to scene, trying to get information.

A block away, Roxanne Neal said police would not tell her anything.

"That's my nephew," Neal said.

A crowd gathered behind a police cordon, watching as the body lay in the street. Some complained that the body had been mostly uncovered for about two hours. Part of the time, a blaze-orange shirt covered Robinson's face.

Ameer Johnson, who said he lived in the neighborhood, said drug dealers filled its streets. "It's been a problem for a long time," he said.

Ross said the shooting reflected the dangers police encounter.

"Once again, we're dealing with the violence in the streets of Philadelphia and the perils that our officers face each and every day," he said.

The shooting happened just hours after Rasheed Scruggs, charged in the Feb. 13 slaying of Pawlowski, was released from a hospital and taken to a city prison. Police had wounded Scruggs, 33, in an exchange of gunfire.

At Temple University Hospital, Ford's wife was at his side, joined later by their 21-year-old son, 16-year-old daughter, and 10-year-old twin boys.

Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey and Mayor Nutter visited Ford. Nutter said the bullet had gone through the detective's upper thigh.

"He is fully alert . . . and in tremendously good spirits," Nutter said.

He said Ford probably would be hospitalized at least until today for observation.

"We've been at this scene too many times, and the outcome has been very different. . . . He's just a good guy trying to do his job," Nutter said of the detective.