The suspect in the Philadelphia police standoff has been identified by multiple local news outlets.
Citing “police sources,” the Philadelphia Inquirer said that 36-year-old Maurice Hill held police at bay for almost eight hours after having wounded six police officers in a narcotics raid Wednesday afternoon.
The suspect, whom police still were not officially naming, surrendered peacefully shortly after midnight.
According to the Inquirer, Hill has “a lengthy history of gun convictions and of resisting attempts to bring him to justice.”
TV station WPVI reported similarly, though the ABC affiliate identified Hill as 34 years old and added that he also had “a long criminal record of drug offenses dating back to 2003.”
Police Commissioner Richard Ross said at a news conference earlier Wednesday evening that he had tried to speak personally to the gunman, whom he did not name.
“He can end this peacefully now,” Commissioner Ross said, adding that the gunman answered the phone inside the home but said nothing.
He later said the suspect’s attorney and girlfriend were involved in negotiations.
“Making a little bit of progress,” Commissioner Ross said. “It appeared that his attorney was on the three-way line. Was trying to assure [Hill] that we weren’t here to harm him but after that, conversation ceased.”
Shaka Mzee Johnson, the lawyer who most recently represented Hill, did not directly confirm to the Inquirer that he was the man holed up in the Nicetown-Tioga rowhouse.
But the attorney did confirmed he had a connection to the standoff.
“My client is requesting me to come to the scene,” the lawyer said.
The Inquirer reported that Hill has been arrested around a dozen times, starting at age 18, when he was convicted of having a gun with an altered serial number.
Other Hill convictions included illegal possession of guns, drug dealing, and aggravated assault, while he beat the rap “on everything from kidnapping to attempted murder,” the Inquirer reported.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney also didn’t name the suspect, but, in using a Wednesday evening press conference as a platform to argue for gun control, said police knew the gunman and said he should not have been able to get a weapon, much less the arsenal he apparently had.
“This guy is clearly a criminal … he had apparently a long record. Has been involved in criminal justice before and he was able to get these weapons,” the mayor said, calling the situation “disgusting.”
Philadelphia news outlets reported that the suspect had an AK-47 as well as multiple pistols. Witnesses reported hearing more than 100 shots.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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