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Monday, December 8, 2008

Teen takes aim at cops in Point Breeze
A pair of patrol cops were riding through Point Breeze Saturday morning when they spotted Tony Burrell’s familiar face.
Officer Anthony Gamble thought Burrell was wanted on a warrant, and told the 19-year-old, at 23rd Street near Reed, to stop walking.
Burrell — with 17 prior arrests — immediately took off running.
When Gamble and his partner, Officer Nathaniel Harper, gave chase, Burrell pulled out a .45-caliber Glock and fired at the cops, according to police records obtained by the Daily News.
The bullet missed and the officers continued to chase Burrell. The teen tried to get off another shot, but his gun jammed, the records show.
The heart-thumping chase ended when Burrell tripped in an alley between Reed and Gerritt streets, and Harper moved in to make the arrest.
The encounter likely left Burrell and the two officers with a strange sense of deja vu.
On Aug. 7, Burrell crashed an ATV into a police cruiser on Reed Street near 22nd. He ran from police that day as well, but ended up impaled on a row of 6-inch spikes when he tried to jump a fence in an alley, police said.
Gamble and Harper were among the many cops who were on the scene in August when Burrell was removed from the fence.
Burrell was cut loose after the August impalement because he was able to come up with $500 in bail money — 10 percent of the $5,000 bail a judge set, court records show.
He put his freedom to good use. According to court records, Burrell was arrested on Oct. 9 on charges that included burglary and receiving stolen property.
After taking a shot at two cops on Saturday, Burrell’s bail was set at $5 million, and he was held on charges that include attempted murder, aggravated assault and weapons violations.
Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said yesterday that he was curious to see what kind of sentence Burrell would receive for shooting at the two 17th District police officers.
In October, Gov. Rendell signed into law a bill that mandates a minimum 20-year sentence for anyone who shoots at a law enforcement officer.
Based on the bill, Burrell “should get sent away for 20 years. I’ll be surprised if he does, but based on that law, that’s what he should get,” Ramsey said. “Frankly, I think he should get 40 years, but I’m a little tougher.”
Posted by David Gambacorta @ 11:50 PM  Permalink | 5 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:22 AM, 12/09/2008
    Tony Burrell is one of the idiots that floors me to see out on the street. He's a drug dealer and more. How can a judge let this guy have a chance to bail out when he's a gross hazard to public safety? Are the judges that cynical that they think there are no good people who live in Point Breeze/Grays Ferry? Burrelll shot at cops, he needs 20 years mand min. That's just what the law is for, and that's just who needs to get it, or some judges need to get the boot.
    — CleanupPhilly
  • Comment removed.
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:58 PM, 02/13/2009
    2 Miracles that night for the officers!!!! And the police and fire departments and everyone involved in the city to make it safer, need all the funds they can get and more. Unbelievable of the violence involving guns and whoever are supplying them need to be just as accountable, they are just as bad as if they did the shootings themselves.
    — pidi_u4jc
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:11 PM, 02/13/2009
    David--I reread your article and there were 3 miracles that night, not 2, the 3rd was--"he tripped", you got to love it!
    — pidi_u4jc


5 comments
About The PhillyConfidential team

Dana DiFilippo has covered murder, mayhem and miscellany at the Daily News since 2000. She grew up in Delaware County and studied journalism and photography at Penn State University. E-mail tips to difilid@phillynews.com.

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Stephanie Farr has been reporting for the Daily News since 2007, covering everything from gay porn stars who entered the burglary business to moon trees, skinheads, murders and naked bike rides. She covers crime, both in the city and suburbs, and keeps clippings of bizarre Associated Press articles. Her favorite this year was the story about the drunk in Punxsutawney who gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dead opossum. E-mail tips to farrs@phillynews.com.

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Phillip Lucas joined the Daily News crime team in 2011. He grew up on the mean streets of Seattle and studied journalism and psychology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Before landing in the City of Brotherly Love, Phillip was a reporter for The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. Email tips to lucasp@phillynews.com.

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Morgan Zalot is the newest crime reporter at the Daily News, starting in 2011 after interning at the paper twice as a Temple University journalism student. In her past stints at the DN, she covered just about everything, from drunken Phillies fans to a barber shop in a high school to a grisly murder-suicide. She’s a born-and-raised Philly girl who grew up in the Northeast. E-mail tips to zalotm@philly.com.

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