2 shot by cops in separate incidents

POLICE OFFICERS shot two men who pulled guns on them in separate incidents this weekend in the city.

About 1 a.m. Sunday, two cops on patrol spotted a man on foot at 2nd Street and Nedro Avenue, in Olney, who was exchanging gunfire with the occupant of a red SUV that was fleeing the area, said Lt. Ray Evers, police spokesman.

The cops got out of their car, and as they told the man to drop his gun, he turned around and pointed it at the officers, causing one of the cops to shoot him once in the head, Evers said.

The man, who was identified as Vanna Sok, 25, a resident of that block, was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center, where he was in extremely critical condition and not expected to survive, police said. Recovered at the scene was the 9mm handgun that Sok leveled at police, Evers said.

Later Sunday morning, about 9:50 a.m., cops descended on a house at Devereaux Street and Ditman, in Wissinoming, where the occupant of the red SUV involved in the initial shooting was believed to be holed up, Evers said. The situation was initially declared a barricade when the man refused to come out, but police were able to get him to surrender peacefully within an hour, Evers said. That man's identity had not been released pending charges.

In the second police-involved shooting over the weekend, cops shot and killed a man who had a stolen gun during a car stop in Feltonville on Friday night.

About 11:30 p.m., a police sergeant in a marked car saw the driver of a 2007 BMW run a red light at 2nd Street and Erie Avenue. When the cop tried to initiate a car stop, it took about three blocks before the driver pulled over at Rising Sun Avenue near Wingohocking Street, Evers said. The officer approached the vehicle and smelled marijuana coming from the car, police said.

He called for backup, and when two other officers arrived on the scene, he approached the car for the second time and the driver got out of the vehicle and pointed a .40-caliber Taurus pistol at police, Evers said. Two of the three cops fired first and shot the driver, identified as Matthew Henderson, four times, Evers said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to Evers, Henderson, 28, of Roosevelt Boulevard near Tremont Street, had 14 prior arrests, including three for gun violations. The gun that was recovered from him at the scene had been stolen during a burglary in January, Evers said. Police recovered marijuana from Henderson's vehicle, and the Medical Examiner's Office found marijuana and crack cocaine on Henderson when his body was examined, police said.