Philadelphia youth pleads guilty in officers' shooting

A 17-year-old pleaded guilty yesterday to attempted murder and related charges for shooting and wounding two narcotics officers trying to serve a search warrant at the East Frankford house in which he lived.

In addition to two counts of attempted murder, Donyea Phillips pleaded guilty to 10 counts of recklessly endangering another person for 10 officers who were on the raid but not shot, as well as six counts involving drugs or guns.

Assistant District Attorney Namratha Ravikant said that Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Glenn Bronson set sentencing for Aug. 15.

Phillips was arrested the night of Nov. 13, when more than a dozen police officers raided the house in the 2000 block of Orthodox Street where he was living, and which police believed was a crack house.

According to earlier court testimony, a police sergeant knocked on the door, identified himself, and said he had a search warrant. Another officer then banged the door with a battering ram.

Phillips, then 16, gave a statement to police in which he said he grabbed a pistol and fired through a window, wounding Officers Christopher Reed, a 12-year veteran, and Stephen Holts, a 13-year veteran.

Phillips surrendered after a standoff that ended several hours later.

The shooting occurred less than two weeks after Officer Chuck Cassidy was fatally wounded when he walked into a robbery at a North Broad Street doughnut shop.

Also charged with attempted murder and related offenses was Phillips' cousin Troy Zimmerman, then 22, who authorities say was squatting and selling drugs with Phillips in the empty unit of the converted rowhouse.

Ravikant said Zimmerman had pleaded guilty to drug charges and was awaiting sentencing.