Radical group may pose threat to police officers

The Philadelphia Inquirer spoke to Valerie Holliday, Archer’s mother, who said that her son has been a Muslim for some time.

Authorities believe Archer traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2011 and to Egypt in 2012 and are investigating the goal of those trips.

The gunman who opened fire on a police officer as he sat in his marked cruiser had previously pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, a Philadelphia police official said in a news conference. “It isn’t a Muslim name”, said Abu Rahman of Newtown Square, a native of Bangladesh who has been a US citizen for more than 36 years.

Police are looking into whether Archer had any contact with the extremist organization, also known as ISIS, or other terrorist cells. Police said they were astonished he survived.

Police Officer Jesse Hartnett was hit three times in the arm suffering a broken arm and nerve damage. “The police chief stands up says, ‘This was the guy”.

In the wake of the massacres in San Bernardino, California, in December and in Paris in November, the Philadelphia shooting and its video images stoked fears of a continuing trend of young people inspired to violence by radical groups.

“That is abhorrent, it’s bad and it does not represent the religion in any way, shape or form or any of its teachings”, Kenney said.

The officer gave the man a five-dollar bill and proceeded with his visit to Officer Hartnett before eventually returning to the emergency room entrance.

Investigators prepare Friday to enter one of the residences where suspect Edward Archer has lived in Yeadon. He said it was unclear how Archer got the gun. The spokesperson did not comment on the other charges but said that the district attorney’s office was “reviewing the case for general information” after Archer’s arrest Thursday night.

They said they did not understand why, at almost midnight on Thursday, he approached officer Jesse Hartnett, 33, and fired 11 rounds, some at point-blank range, through the vehicle window. “I’m shot. I’m bleeding heavily”, he yelled in a dispatch call.

“There was blood everywhere on the street”, the officer said.

The report said the three other men frequent the area where the shooting took place and that officers should be careful there. The father returned with two police officers, but the attackers fled. Each man raped the woman, police said. “I pledge my allegiance to the Islamic State, and that’s why I did what I did”, Philly.com reported.

Archer was not the only Islamic radical taken into police custody on Thursday. “He doesn’t appear to be a stupid individual, just an extremely violent one”.

Natalie King, who lives across the street from Archer’s residence, was quoted in the media as saying that she considered mental illness a more likely explanation for the shooting than religious extremism.

“He’s been acting kind of odd lately”. “He’s been talking to himself…He’s been hearing voices in his head. We asked him to get medical help”, she told the newspaper.

“If he claims he is devout Muslim, that’s nonsense, his action is anything but devout Muslim”.

“This guy was very quick to say ‘nobody believes that this has anything to do with islam.’ Guess what Mr. Mayor; you’re not right”.