Officer dies; police press manhunt

With no strong suspects in custody, officials boosted the reward from $50,000 to $115,000 and distributed photographs of a distinctive gray hooded sweatshirt with striped sleeves recovered from a September robbery they suspect was committed by the same man.

All day yesterday and into the night, members of the police SWAT unit and homicide detectives canvassed the West Oak Lane neighborhood for potential witnesses in the shooting of Cassidy, who was gunned down Wednesday morning as he walked in on a robbery inside the Dunkin' Donuts at 6620 N. Broad St.

As helicopters hovered overhead, investigators searched storm drains, rooftops and alleys for evidence the killer may have discarded. Police said they searched at least one house and recovered fingerprints.

Police questioned scores of people who matched the assailant's description - a heavy-set black man, with a distinctive gait and a spider tattooed on his left hand. The aggressive police activity stirred murmurings of discontent in a neighborhood where more common slayings receive scant attention by comparison.

Police sent a surveillance video of the killing to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., for enhancement. They hope an artist can develop a sketch of the suspect from the video.

Officer Cassidy, 54, a married father of three, died at 9:40 a.m. yesterday at Albert Einstein Medical Center. Hundreds of officers lined up at his bedside to pay respects.

Detectives said yesterday that Cassidy, a respected 25-year veteran, walked into the doughnut shop after a witness told him "something" was happening inside. The gunman, alerted to the officer by a bell on the shop's door, turned to see Cassidy with his gun drawn. The killer took two steps toward Cassidy before firing one shot into his head from about five feet away.

Investigators questioned dozens of men they found on the street or in police databases whose descriptions matched the killer's. Those who had a tattoo of a spider on their left hand similar to the suspect's were likely to receive a visit from a team of investigators.

Word quickly spread that police were patting down those men who matched the description of the shooter, who was said to have worn a black hooded sweatshirt, khaki pants, and tan boots.

"We're not allowed to wear hoodies around here any more," said John Sanders, 33, who was among a group of men at 20th Street and 68th Avenue who watched police descend on a residence and then go away, apparently empty-handed. "The cops tell you anybody wearing one is subject to be stopped."

"It's like Vietnam around here, with all these helicopters and guns," said a man standing near Sanders.

The increase in the reward was announced at an afternoon news conference.

"This is the kind of crime that makes you sick to your stomach," said John C. Apeldorn, president of the Citizens Crime Commission of Delaware Valley, which will administer the reward. "Somebody guns down one of our officers and has the audacity to go back and take equipment. There's nothing that is worse than that.

"Anybody out there that knows anything, there's money out there," Apeldorn added.

The Rev. Kevin J. Moley, pastor of St. Peter the Apostle Roman Catholic Church at Fifth Street and Girard Avenue, was at the officer's bedside yesterday.

"If you go into the room, you'll see officers, and they know this was a comrade, this was a friend," he said. "It's absolutely senseless and painful, and there's no way you don't cry about this."

Mayor Street ordered flags at city buildings to be lowered to half-staff.

Street scheduled an interdenominational prayer service for 10 a.m. today in the Mayor's Reception Room in City Hall. Last night, dozens - civilians and uniformed officers - gathered outside the Dunkin' Donuts in a vigil for the fallen officer.

"This tragedy calls into question the direction that we are headed in as a society," the mayor said at a brief news conference earlier yesterday at Police Headquarters. It "will take many, many years to overcome."