HankT
State Researcher
imported post
imperialism2024 wrote:
The "coverup" continues...:uhoh::uhoh::uhoh:
The search for a killer continues
By Andrew Maykuth and Barbara Boyer
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
As the intense hunt for the killer of Officer Chuck Cassidy stretched through a third day today, Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson said he was "very optimistic" that investigators were closing in on a target.
"I'm just very confident we'll have the person in custody," Johnson said, conveying an upbeat tone for the first time since Cassidy was mortally wounded Wednesday.
By nightfall, with exhausted detectives heading home for breaks from their 18-hour shifts, Johnson was less sanguine about quick results: "Things that look promising don't always pan out," he said.
Today was an emotional roller-coaster of a day in the massive manhunt for the tattooed suspect who shot Cassidy in the head after the 25-year veteran interrupted an armed robbery at the Dunkin' Donuts at 6620 N. Broad St.
At a interdenominational prayer service at City Hall, Mayor Street said the city was under "psychological, emotional and spiritual" stress - Cassidy was the third officer shot this week.
At a police promotions ceremony at Temple University, the celebration took on a somber tone as officers expressed a desire to get back on the streets to hunt down Cassidy's killer.
And in the West Oak Lane neighborhood where Cassidy was gunned down, the frenzied activities by police the two previous days was replaced by a subdued calm. The only difference from the usual was four TV news vans parked outside the Dunkin' Donuts where the officer was shot.
Cassidy, 54, died Thursday at Albert Einstein Medical Center. Today, his body was carried in a hearse escorted by dozens of police vehicles to a funeral home in Northeast Philadelphia, where he lived with his wife and three children. The motorcade, accompanied by a police helicopter, shut down traffic on I-95.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete.
Investigators have been pursuing numerous leads that poured in throughout the day after officials posted a $115,000 reward Thursday for Cassidy's killer.
Johnson said investigators have conducted an "enormous" number of interviews. Homicide detectives moved into a special command room on the third floor of Police Headquarters to coordinate the investigation. They were assisted by officers from federal law enforcement agencies.
The suspect is described as a heavy-set black man with a hitched gait and a spider tattoo on his left hand. He took the officer's pistol after shooting him.
"We have a family that needs a lot of prayer," Street told a crowd gathered for the morning prayer vigil in a second-floor reception room. "We have a police commissioner that needs to be comforted and supported."
Six religious leaders spoke at the ceremony, which was broadcast on television and on a large screen in Dilworth Plaza to an audience of several hundred.
"One of our charges is to build positive human relations in the city," said the Rev. James S. Allen, chairman of the Commission on Human Relations, which organized the vigil. "We gather here today at a time when it seems that concept has been shattered to some degree."
Johnson did not attend the prayer service; he was at a scheduled police promotion ceremony for 178 captains, lieutenants and sergeants at Temple University. The mayor left the prayer service early to attend the promotion ceremony.
Cassidy's slaying added a gloomy note to the ceremony.
"I think it's fair to say that all of you sitting in front of me right now would rather be anyplace else but here," District Attorney Lynne Abraham said to the officers.
"And the 'anyplace else but here' means out on the street, looking for the killer or killers of Charles Cassidy," she said.
Cassidy's death served to emphasize the importance of the officers' new supervisory responsibilities.
"It doesn't matter if you have a year or 25 years, you may lose your life," said newly promoted Lt. John O'Hanlon, 44, a 23-year veteran of the force. "That's what I'm going to stress to my officers."
Street, speaking to the promotees, pledged every available resource to help "catch and punish the perpetrator of this violence on a member of our family."
He added, "If it means that we have to authorize unlimited overtime for as many people as we can, we are going to catch him."
The measured formality of the ceremonies stood in contrast with the determined intensity of the investigation.
U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan, the top federal prosecutor in the region, visited Police Headquarters to pledge cooperation.
"Everybody's committed to finding the guy who did this and holding him accountable," Meehan said.
The FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., is enhancing a surveillance video of Cassidy's slaying to develop a better image of the killer. Three specialists took measurements of objects inside the Dunkin' Donuts yesterday to help them with the enhancements, FBI spokeswoman Jerri Williams said.
Agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have also joined in the investigation.
Cassidy's slaying also became a campaign issue.
Michael Nutter, the favorite in Tuesday's mayoral election, held a lunchtime get-out-the-vote rally at JFK Plaza during which he implored citizens to stand up to crime, as Cassidy had.
"This is supposed to be the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection," Nutter said. "We need to start acting like it."
Nutter noted that Cassidy had drawn his gun and gone into the Dunkin' Donuts after a witness told him "something" was happening in the shop.
"He went in that place, he had no chance," said Nutter. "He had no chance. He was doing his job because he cared about this city. He didn't go the other way. When will we show that same courage?
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_left_story/20071102_ATF__DEA_join_manhunt.html
imperialism2024 wrote:
...
Police released a photo of the officer who was shot:
Unless this is just part of a coverup for something else. Either way... :shock:
The "coverup" continues...:uhoh::uhoh::uhoh:
The search for a killer continues
By Andrew Maykuth and Barbara Boyer
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
As the intense hunt for the killer of Officer Chuck Cassidy stretched through a third day today, Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson said he was "very optimistic" that investigators were closing in on a target.
"I'm just very confident we'll have the person in custody," Johnson said, conveying an upbeat tone for the first time since Cassidy was mortally wounded Wednesday.
By nightfall, with exhausted detectives heading home for breaks from their 18-hour shifts, Johnson was less sanguine about quick results: "Things that look promising don't always pan out," he said.
Today was an emotional roller-coaster of a day in the massive manhunt for the tattooed suspect who shot Cassidy in the head after the 25-year veteran interrupted an armed robbery at the Dunkin' Donuts at 6620 N. Broad St.
At a interdenominational prayer service at City Hall, Mayor Street said the city was under "psychological, emotional and spiritual" stress - Cassidy was the third officer shot this week.
At a police promotions ceremony at Temple University, the celebration took on a somber tone as officers expressed a desire to get back on the streets to hunt down Cassidy's killer.
And in the West Oak Lane neighborhood where Cassidy was gunned down, the frenzied activities by police the two previous days was replaced by a subdued calm. The only difference from the usual was four TV news vans parked outside the Dunkin' Donuts where the officer was shot.
Cassidy, 54, died Thursday at Albert Einstein Medical Center. Today, his body was carried in a hearse escorted by dozens of police vehicles to a funeral home in Northeast Philadelphia, where he lived with his wife and three children. The motorcade, accompanied by a police helicopter, shut down traffic on I-95.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete.
Investigators have been pursuing numerous leads that poured in throughout the day after officials posted a $115,000 reward Thursday for Cassidy's killer.
Johnson said investigators have conducted an "enormous" number of interviews. Homicide detectives moved into a special command room on the third floor of Police Headquarters to coordinate the investigation. They were assisted by officers from federal law enforcement agencies.
The suspect is described as a heavy-set black man with a hitched gait and a spider tattoo on his left hand. He took the officer's pistol after shooting him.
"We have a family that needs a lot of prayer," Street told a crowd gathered for the morning prayer vigil in a second-floor reception room. "We have a police commissioner that needs to be comforted and supported."
Six religious leaders spoke at the ceremony, which was broadcast on television and on a large screen in Dilworth Plaza to an audience of several hundred.
"One of our charges is to build positive human relations in the city," said the Rev. James S. Allen, chairman of the Commission on Human Relations, which organized the vigil. "We gather here today at a time when it seems that concept has been shattered to some degree."
Johnson did not attend the prayer service; he was at a scheduled police promotion ceremony for 178 captains, lieutenants and sergeants at Temple University. The mayor left the prayer service early to attend the promotion ceremony.
Cassidy's slaying added a gloomy note to the ceremony.
"I think it's fair to say that all of you sitting in front of me right now would rather be anyplace else but here," District Attorney Lynne Abraham said to the officers.
"And the 'anyplace else but here' means out on the street, looking for the killer or killers of Charles Cassidy," she said.
Cassidy's death served to emphasize the importance of the officers' new supervisory responsibilities.
"It doesn't matter if you have a year or 25 years, you may lose your life," said newly promoted Lt. John O'Hanlon, 44, a 23-year veteran of the force. "That's what I'm going to stress to my officers."
Street, speaking to the promotees, pledged every available resource to help "catch and punish the perpetrator of this violence on a member of our family."
He added, "If it means that we have to authorize unlimited overtime for as many people as we can, we are going to catch him."
The measured formality of the ceremonies stood in contrast with the determined intensity of the investigation.
U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan, the top federal prosecutor in the region, visited Police Headquarters to pledge cooperation.
"Everybody's committed to finding the guy who did this and holding him accountable," Meehan said.
The FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., is enhancing a surveillance video of Cassidy's slaying to develop a better image of the killer. Three specialists took measurements of objects inside the Dunkin' Donuts yesterday to help them with the enhancements, FBI spokeswoman Jerri Williams said.
Agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have also joined in the investigation.
Cassidy's slaying also became a campaign issue.
Michael Nutter, the favorite in Tuesday's mayoral election, held a lunchtime get-out-the-vote rally at JFK Plaza during which he implored citizens to stand up to crime, as Cassidy had.
"This is supposed to be the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection," Nutter said. "We need to start acting like it."
Nutter noted that Cassidy had drawn his gun and gone into the Dunkin' Donuts after a witness told him "something" was happening in the shop.
"He went in that place, he had no chance," said Nutter. "He had no chance. He was doing his job because he cared about this city. He didn't go the other way. When will we show that same courage?
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_left_story/20071102_ATF__DEA_join_manhunt.html
(Please read sarcasam.) And patronize them more often to make it a safe enviroment for all...:celebrate