ISISISIS follower shoots Philadelphia police officer

Published 11 January 2016

A man who shot a Philadelphia policeman while he was sitting in his squad car and wounded him, was inspired by ISIS. Edward Archer used a stolen gun to fire eleven shots at Jesse Hartnett in – but Hartman, despite being wounded, was able to get out of the car and return fire, hitting the gunman three times.

A man who shot a Philadelphia policeman while he was sitting in his squad car and wounded him, was inspired by ISIS.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Edward Archer used a stolen gun to fire eleven shots at Jesse Hartnett in – but Hartman, despite being wounded, was able to get out of the car and return fire, hitting the gunman three times.

Archer was arrested and said he shot the policeman to help Islam’s cause.

He has confessed to committing this cowardly act in the name of Islam,” Police Commissioner Richard Ross said, because he believes “police defend laws that are contrary to Islam”.

Archer, 30, told police he pledged his allegiance to ISIS, but Ross said there is no evidence that he was working with anyone else.

Court records show Archer was convicted of assault in March and was about to go to jail to serve time. He was also convicted for forging documents.

Archer’s mother, Valerie Holliday, told the Inquirer he is mentally ill and had suffered multiple head injuries.

He’s been acting kind of strange lately. He’s been talking to himself … laughing and mumbling,” she told the newspaper.

He’s been hearing voices in his head. We asked him to get medical help.”

Holliday also told the Inquirer that he had been a devout Muslim “for a long time”.

Hartnett has serious injuries and requires surgery.

His will to live undoubtedly saved his life,” Ross said. “This could have easily been a police funeral.”

Ross said Archer’s gun was a police firearm that was stolen in 2013.

The Inquirer notes that the shooting in Philadelphia occurred on the day two men who came to the United States as refugees were charged with supporting terrorism – one in Texas the other in California.