AMBUSH IN WEST PHILLY: REPEAT OFFENDER CITY EMPLOYEE GUNS DOWN COPS, KILLS FATHER OF TWO
A career criminal on the Philadelphia Water Department payroll ambushed two officers responding to a man-with-a-gun call in West Philadelphia early Saturday, killing one and riddling the other with a dozen rounds before firing on nine more cops and hiding in a tree.
Officer Shane Seiber, a 40-year-old 10-year veteran and father of a 7-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter, was shot three times and died at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. His wife and family were at his side. His partner, a 33-year-old father of five, took 12 rounds, underwent surgery, and is now listed in stable condition but, as Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel put it, “not out of the woods yet.”
The officers answered a call just after midnight to the 100 block of North 52nd Street for a man with a gun on a porch. Roughly 30 minutes later they stepped onto the porch and were met with what Bethel called “significant gunfire.” The suspect, later identified as 35-year-old Eric Lewis, fled down an alley, kept shooting at additional officers, and was eventually pulled from a tree by SWAT. Police recovered a shotgun and two handguns; one of the handguns belonged to one of the wounded officers.
Lewis, a trades helper hired by the Water Department in 2024, has a criminal history stretching back to 2012 that includes convictions for theft, carrying a firearm in public, and simple assault, plus prior arrests involving aggravated assault with a firearm. State Rep. Amen Brown, who lives nearby and saw the arrest, said Lewis has an extensive record and allegedly told officers he wished he had killed more of them.
District Attorney Larry Krasner, the progressive prosecutor long criticized for soft-on-crime policies, called the attack a “brutal, senseless, horrific killing” and said Lewis faces roughly 80 charges, including homicide of a law enforcement officer, multiple counts of attempted murder, and weapons offenses. He is being held without bail.
Mayor Cherelle Parker said Seiber “paid the ultimate price while sacrificing his own life to protect and serve our city.” Bethel added: “He fought valiantly, but he lost his life today.” Governor Josh Shapiro ordered flags to half-staff.
This is what happens when cities recycle violent offenders into public jobs and progressive prosecutors treat cop-killers as another social-justice case. One more Philadelphia officer is dead. Another is fighting for his life. Both have kids who will never see them the same way again. The suspect was already known to the system. He was still free to ambush the men who answered the call.
Sources: Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel and District Attorney Larry Krasner press statements, Philadelphia Inquirer, CBS Philadelphia, Fox 29, WHYY, Associated Press, Officer Down Memorial Page.
