Police are reviewing video footage and interviewing witnesses in North Philadelphia after two officers opened fire on a 33-year-old man who, according to a police spokesperson, hadThe man, identified Friday as Curtis Smith, was pronounced dead at 3:06 p.m. Thursday at Temple University Hospital.around 2:20 p.m. Thursday after he fled down the 2200 block of North Camac Street during a police investigation into a possible stolen vehicle.
Nearby residents were distraught to learn that Smith, a father who came from a working-class neighborhood, had been shot by police. They disputed the police account of what happened. Gripp, the police spokesperson, said Smith was not fleeing when he was shot. He said shots weren’t fired until both of the officers and Smith were behind the property on Dauphin Street where Smith had stopped running. Entry and exit wounds will be determined by a medical examiner’s investigation.
Jane Roh, a spokesperson for District Attorney Larry Krasner, declined to release additional information Friday.