Philadelphia Shooting: 2 Cops Wounded; Bullet Lodged In Injured Cop’s Cap Grazed His Head

Two police officers were shot near Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway as people were gathered to attend a July 4 Independence Day concert and fireworks show.

While one police officer sustained a graze wound to the head and the other police officer sustained a gunshot wound to the right shoulder. Philadelphia police department commissioner Danielle Outlaw on Tuesday midnight (local time) said both were treated and released from the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Later the president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5 union John McNesby provided a photo where the bullet was seen lodged in the upper half of the cap worn by the police officer.

The picture showed the bullet with drops of blood, with a memorial card for a Philadelphia police chaplain who recently died.

“It is miraculous… the fact that the round stopped in his hat,” Outlaw said. “The good news is that both officers have since been treated and released, and what really could have been a chaotic scene or a catastrophic scene wasn’t today,” Outlaw was quoted as saying by NBC10.

The 36-year-old PPD highway patrol officer along with his other colleague, a 44-year-old Montgomery County Sheriffs’ deputy, are now stable.

Outlaw said they are still trying to ascertain if the police officer’s were targeted or if they were struck during “celebratory gunfire” amid July 4 festivities.

Concert attendees were seen scurrying for their lives, hiding behind cars, seeking refuge in houses nearby and screaming for help as the sound of gunfire were heard.

The shooting occured around 9:47pm (local time) as people gathered to watch the finale of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s 16-day Wawa Welcome America festival.

The shots hit the cops at the 2500 block of Spring Garden Street, behind where the concert took place. The concert was headlined by singer Jason Derulo.

NBC Philadelphia reporter Karen Hua tweeted photos of her and other concert attendees hiding inside a makeshift tent to save herself from gunfire.

Several children were also seen visibly distressed looking for elders who accompanied them to the concert.

Four mass shootings were reported on July 4, as America celebrated its 246th Independence Day. Six people died after a lone gunman went on a shooting spree in Chicago suburb.

(with inputs from NBC10)

Read all the Latest News, Breaking News, watch Top Videos and Live TV here.