Cop shooter was being sought in earlier gun crime

The person who shot a Philadelphia police officer on New Year's Eve has been identified as Darryl Moore - a man who just two weeks earlier shot a security guard in the back of the neck at a gas station and then robbed the victim while he lay bleeding, police said.

Both the injured officer, who survived the shooting because of his bulletproof vest, and the security guard, who has been released from the hospital, fared better than Moore, who was shot and killed after firing at officers Friday night.

About 7:45 p.m., Officer Adam O'Donnell and Officer Ivan Centeno tried to stop a green van driven by Moore, 52, after he ran a red light at 57th and Spruce streets, in West Philadelphia, Lt. Ray Evers, police spokesman, said.

Moore led the officers on a chase for four or five blocks, in and out of narrow streets, before getting stuck on ice, Evers said.

O'Donnell got out of his cruiser and approached the driver's side of Moore's vehicle on foot, while Centeno approached the passenger's side, according to police.

It was then that Moore fired gunshots out of his driver's side window and struck O'Donnell in the chest, police said. In return, O'Donnell, Centeno and two backup officers opened fire on the vehicle, killing Moore, Evers said.

O'Donnell, who suffered a bruised lung, and Centeno, who suffered a ruptured eardrum from the gunfire, were treated at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and released, Evers said.

Yesterday, police confirmed that Moore, of Poplar Street near 41st, was responsible for shooting a 42-year-old uniformed security at the Sunoco A-Plus on Girard Avenue near 38th Street about 11:15 p.m. Dec. 15.

The guard, Howard Rubin, who was a customer of the Sunoco and not employed there, tried to stop a disturbance that Moore was causing at the store, police said. When the guard tried to leave, Moore shot him in the back of the neck, according to police.

Evers said that when the officers tried to pull Moore over Friday for running the red light, he might have thought it was something more.

"He probably thought the cops were stopping him for the shooting when they were stopping him for the red light," Evers said.

"That shows you the dangers of car stops."