Philadelphia shooter surrendered and was taken into custody

Earlier, a SWAT team rescued two police officers trapped inside the house after the gunman wounded six officers in a shootout, police said.

By REUTERS, JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Philadelphia Police Department, Pennsylvania (photo credit: DOMINICK REUTER/ REUTERS)
Philadelphia Police Department, Pennsylvania
(photo credit: DOMINICK REUTER/ REUTERS)
A man who shot and wounded six police officers after barricading himself inside his house in Philadelphia has surrendered to the police and was taken into custody on Thursday.
The standoff stretched from 4:30 p.m local time until little after midnight. Six police officers were wounded by gunfire after trying to serve a felony narcotics warrant to someone in north Philadelphia, police said. all officers are expected to recover.
It is not yet known exactly how the man, currently identified as Maurice Hill, 36, was taken into custody.
Earlier, a SWAT team rescued two police officers trapped inside the house after the gunman wounded six officers in a shootout, police said.
The gunman remained barricaded inside the house with police urging him to surrender. The SWAT team also evacuated suspects who police had arrested during the raid, and who were then also trapped in the home, police said.
The SWAT team moved in about five hours into the standoff that began after the man opened fire on officers as they served a drugs warrant in the north Philadelphia home.
"The officers and additional prisoners that were inside of the house with the shooter were safely evacuated. The shooter remains armed inside," Philadelphia Police Department Commissioner Richard Ross tweeted.
All the wounded officers were in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries, with television images showing several of them leaving hospital on Wednesday night, one with a bandaged head and arm.
"Many of them had to escape through windows and doors to escape from a barrage of bullets," Ross told a news conference.
The shooter continued to fire on a SWAT truck parked outside the residence in the Nicetown-Tioga neighborhood, with rounds hitting a building across the street, as officers tried to negotiate his surrender, Ross said.
Police called the man's phone, talked with him on a bullhorn and involved a family member in the negotiations, Ross added.
"We are trying to get him to come out peacefully," Ross said.
Ross said the trapped officers inside the home were holding people they arrested during the raid. The officers and suspects were pulled out of the home safely, Ross said.
Police told local residents to remain inside their homes and stay out of the area after hundreds of rounds were exchanged.
There were reports the shooter was livestreaming the incident on Facebook.
President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting and was monitoring the situation, the White House said.
Local media reported the shooter appeared to have a high-powered weapon and a significant amount of ammunition. The incident follows a string of mass shootings in California, Texas and Ohio in which gunmen used semi-automatic rifles.
"I'm a little bit angry about someone having all that weaponry and all that firepower, but we'll get to that another day," said Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney after visiting three of the wounded officers in hospital.
"Lockdown remains in effect on Health Sciences Center campus," Temple University tweeted. "This is an active scene. Stay indoors away from windows. Will keep sending regular updates."