6 Philadelphia police officers were wounded in what appears to be a drug bust gone awry. The police had a court warrant for the drug bust at a "stash house" at 3712 N 15th Street. That procedure went OK. Then some of the officers decided to bust in the house next door without a warrant (3716 N 15th Street). That's where the shootout took place (info that was withheld from the news reports as the shootout and stand-off took place).
The courts will decide on whether the police busting into a home without a warrant and the occupants opening fire is "fruit of the poisonous tree", regardless on whether they later found drugs in that 2nd home too.Deconstructing a drug raid gone awry
Law enforcement sources said police did not enter the house looking for Maurice Hill, but were instead executing a search warrant on a house they believed to be a drug stash, and decided to do a “safety sweep” of a nearby home they believed might be involved in the operation.
Police had a search warrant for the purported stash house, at 3712 N. 15th St., but decided to secure the other home, 3716, after seeing what they believed might be drugs or weapons going into that home. They raided both houses almost simultaneously, sources said.
When Narcotics Strike Force officers breached the front door at 3716, sources said, one team ran upstairs, another to the basement and a third for the kitchen. That’s where they say Maurice Hill opened fire, sending some officers fleeing and trapping the two who had gone upstairs.Those officers sought shelter in the bathroom for a time, hoping the tile floor would block some of the gunfire, and used a direct radio link to provide SWAT supervisors with layouts and conditions in the house.
Throughout the standoff, sources, said, the gunman was calling friends and the mother of his child – and many people called police to identify him as the shooter.