Off-duty cop shoots, kills alleged robber

An off-duty police officer shot and killed a 23-year-old New Jersey man early Wednesday morning during what the officer described as an attempted robbery.

Police have not released the name of the 55-year-old officer, a member of the traffic unit who has been with the department for 24 years.

The shooting took place shortly before 4 a.m. at Seventh and Willow Streets, an avant-garde section of North Philadelphia just above Chinatown that is home to several nightclubs, warehouses and businesses.

Police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said the officer was driving his personal SUV and had stopped at the intersection when he was approached by Altariq Hutchinson, of Edgewater Park.

Hutchinson pointed a gun at the officer and demanded money, while managing to open the passenger-side door and climb inside the car, Vanore said. Hutchinson then pistol-whipped the officer in the face, while trying to take money and jewelry from him.

At that point, the officer drew a Glock 9mm pistol and fired several times, hitting Hutchinson in the chest, police said. Hutchinson was taken to Hahnemann Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly before 4:30 a.m.

Police did not say what the officer, who works out of the South Philadelphia Traffic Unit, was doing in that neighborhood at that hour, or where he had been heading.

Police said they recovered a handgun at the scene that they presume Hutchinson used to attacked the officer. Police also found money on the street outside the officer's car, which Vanore said the officer may have taken out during the attempted robbery.

Police are interviewing a possible accomplice of Hutchinson's, a man who was waiting in a nearby vehicle when gunshots rang out. Investigators are also looking at surveillance footage from cameras in the area.

The officer has been assigned to desk duty pending the outcome of the investigation by homicide detectives and the Internal Affairs Unit.

Reached at her home in Beverly, N.J., Hutchinson's niece, Naimah Pearson, said the family was in shock after the mother of Hutchinson's son called the house in tears with the news.

"That wasn't my uncle," said Pearson, 28. "My uncle doesn't do stuff like that. Either he was set up or he wasn't in his right state of mind."

Hutchinson had been trying to find work since being laid off last fall, she said. He had worked as a forklift driver, and wanted to provide for his 3-month-old son, who lives with the boy's mother in Riverside, N.J. He also inherited some money when his mother died in October, Pearson said.

Hearing him described by police as a robbery suspect "doesn't sound right," Pearson said. "I don't understand."

Wednesday's incident was the second attempted robbery of an off-duty Philadelphia officer in a week, according to officials. Both ended in fatal shootings.

On Dec. 30, Officer Martin Campbell was seriously wounded and his childhood friend was killed when two men tried to rob them in North Philadelphia.

A $15,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the capture and conviction of the assailants.