Cops win shoot-out with robbery suspect

Two splotches of blood on a trash-strewn North Philadelphia sidewalk marked the spot last night where a thug's attempt to flee police came to an end.

The suspect had been wounded in the side when he and two cohorts traded gunfire with a pair of Highway Patrol cops who interrupted a home invasion on 18th Street near Montgomery Avenue about 6:05 p.m., police said.

The shoot-out was short-lived. Two suspects were captured by other officers who arrived moments later, said police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore.

The wounded gunman managed to limp his way to Gratz Street, two blocks from the site of the home invasion, before he was arrested, Vanore said.

A young woman who lives on the block saw the arrest and said the bleeding bandit tried to walk up her front steps until a cop saw him and ordered him to get on the ground.

"I was out here on my phone. He came across the street and was about to walk up these steps," said the woman, who declined to be identified. "He didn't say nothing. He was bleeding. It looked like he had been shot in the arm or the side."

Vanore said the suspect, whose name was not released, was admitted to Temple University Hospital in guarded condition.

The two other suspects were taken to Central Detectives, 21st and Hamilton streets, for questioning.

Several guns were found near the crime scene, Vanore added.

Police were alerted to the home invasion by a 22-year-old man who had escaped the property after the gunmen entered, said Capt. Kevin Hodges.

A 35-year-old woman also escaped the house unharmed, Hodges said.

The male resident flagged down two Highway Patrol officers, Bill Postowski and Brian Hilbert, who both ran to the house.

Vanore said one of the intruders fired at one of the officers from a first-floor window, and the patrolman returned fire. The three ran out of the rear of the house and were shot at by the other officer, Vanore said. Neither officer was injured.