A late-night gun call in West Philadelphia ended with Officer Shane Seiber dead, his partner hit 12 times and a SWAT team pulling the alleged gunman out of a tree, authorities said.
Seiber, 40, was a 10-year Philadelphia Police Department veteran. Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel told reporters that Seiber’s wife and other relatives reached the hospital before he died.
“He fought valiantly, but he lost his life today,” Bethel said. “His wife was able to be by his side before he passed, as well as his family.”
The fallen officer was a husband and father to a 7-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl.
The second officer, a 33-year-old father of five, survived emergency surgery after the barrage and was later listed in stable condition.
Bethel cautioned that the wounded officer is “not out of the woods yet.” Seiber and his partner were sent to western Philadelphia shortly after 12:20 a.m. for a report of a gunman outside a home, Bethel told reporters.
The officers arrived roughly 30 minutes after the initial call and stepped into gunfire on the porch, where Bethel said the response turned into “significant gunfire.”
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Backup and SWAT members later reached the property and found both officers wounded on the porch.
The suspected shooter fled the porch area and opened fire again at two other officers, according to Bethel.
The search ended above ground, with SWAT members locating the suspect in a tree and taking him into custody.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner identified the suspect as Eric Lewis, 35, and outlined charges including attempted murder, attempted homicide of a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault and firearms counts.
The gunfire allegedly swept beyond the two officers first sent to the porch, with prosecutors counting at least 11 possible victims.
Krasner tied nine additional attempted-murder and attempted-homicide counts to the other people allegedly fired upon.
Bethel said Lewis had two handguns and a shotgun when he was arrested. One handgun, he noted, was one of the wounded officers’ weapons.
According to Fox News, court records showing Lewis had prior criminal cases going back to 2012.
That year, Lewis was found guilty of theft and receiving stolen property. In 2013, he was convicted of gun-related offenses and simple assault. Both cases brought probation rather than prison time.
A 2018 disorderly conduct case involving fighting also ended with probation after Lewis pleaded guilty.
Lewis’ record also includes 2024 traffic citations for driving without headlights, failing to provide proof of insurance and windshield-related violations.
A municipal labor union said Lewis worked for the Philadelphia Water Department.
Mayor Cherelle Parker said Seiber “paid the ultimate price while sacrificing his own life to protect and serve our city.”
City flags will remain lowered until sunset on the day of Seiber’s interment under Parker’s order.
The killing also sent Parker toward Harrisburg with a proposed change to Pennsylvania’s involuntary commitment system. She said she wants the law expanded to include substance use disorders and other mental or behavioral health conditions.
Parker planned to work with Gov. Josh Shapiro, the state legislature and Attorney General Dave Sunday on the proposal.
Krasner cautioned that investigators had not connected mental health or substance use to the shooting. He also would not speak to motive, citing the active investigation and the victims’ families.
Parker also invoked the deaths of nine people in Erie, Pennsylvania, while arguing for another look at current law, though she acknowledged investigators had not connected mental health or substance use to those deaths either.
Lewis was arraigned on Sunday and on an epic amount of charges, including murder, homicide of a law enforcement officer, and attempted murder, amongst others, and was not eligible for bail. His next court date is at the end of October.
Funeral services were announced on Tuesday by the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #5, and will be held on October 19,
As Philadelphia grieved Seiber, New York officers were gathering around another wounded lawman who survived an attack in the Bronx.
Det. Jose Mercedes, 33, a 10-year NYPD veteran assigned to the 44th Precinct, was off duty Oct. 2 when two suspects allegedly jumped him while he was cleaning out his car trunk.
Police said the attackers were after Mercedes’ gold chain. Mercedes fought back before he was stabbed and slashed at least ten times in the neck and leg. Police and sources told the Post that the attackers tore the chain from him and got away on a motorized bike.
“The first thing I want to do is thank God. I have a second chance at life,” Mercedes told CBS News.
He told both of the men who allegedly jumped him that he was a law enforcement officer, but reported that “They didn’t care.”
“I was on vacation, I was on my day off, and I was not expecting this,” Mercedes added. “It was a very, very scary sight to me. I’ve been investigating crime for a long time, and at this time, I just wanted to enjoy my vacation, my time off. I wasn’t expecting this.”
The Post obtained video of Mercedes bloodied and being placed into an ambulance. He was taken to Jacobi Medical Center and released days later.
On Monday evening, dozens of NYPD officers welcomed him out with bagpipes and applause as he left the hospital in a wheelchair. Mercedes later stood, smiled and flashed a thumbs-up.
“I’m feeling much better, thank you,” Mercedes told the New York Post on Saturday.
Police named D’Angelo Caraballo, 25, and Sneider Mejia, 24, as the suspects, with Caraballo accused of slashing Mercedes and Mejia accused of driving the bike.
Federal authorities identified both suspects as illegal migrants from the Dominican Republic.
The U.S. Marshals Service found the pair in the basement of a Lynn, Massachusetts, home, and the NYPD announced they were taken into custody Wednesday.
A Lynn District Court judge ordered both men held without bail, and police said they are expected to be returned to New York City to face attempted murder charges.
