Wounded officer released from hospital, other may follow later

WEST PHILADELPHIA (WTXF/AP) - One of the two police officers wounded in Friday night's shooting rampage is now out of the hospital.

Early Sunday afternoon, Philadelphia police commissioner Richard Ross told FOX 29's Dave Schratwieser University of Pennsylvania police officer Ed Miller has been released. There was no fanfare because the officer didn't want any. Miller had helped two other officers chase gunman Nicholas Glenn into an alley, where Glenn was shot and killed. Miller, 56, was wounded in his pelvis and right ankle.

Schratwieser also learned Philadelphia police Sgt. Silvia Young is being evaluated and may also be released this Sunday.

The violence started at about 11:20pm Friday when Glenn ambushed Young, a 19-year police veteran, while she was sitting in her patrol car in West Philadelphia; she was shot a number of times in her arm and protective vest, Ross said.

"She didn't hear him say a word, just walked up on her and started firing," Ross said. "She did hear about 15 shots or so, and that's consistent with the scene, where we believe she was struck at least eight times."

A "rambling" note expressing hatred for police was found addressed to "Doomed People" and expressed hatred for law enforcement and a probation officer; it was found on the gunman, Ross said. Police believe Glenn acted on his own and not as part of a group.

Ross described the violent events as "completely bizarre" and said he "would have no difficulty" believing mental illness was involved in Glenn's actions.

"We know (Glenn) carried out one of the most violent acts that we've seen in Philadelphia in a long time," he said. "This rambling suggests that he clearly was trying to target a police officer, as he did ..."

Officers hearing the shots at Young's police vehicle chased Glenn, who then fired into a nearby bar, hitting a security guard in the leg. Then, he grabbed a woman and used her as a shield before shooting her in the leg, Ross said. Moments later, the suspect shot into a car 14 times, hitting a man and a woman in the chest. The 25-year-old woman, who was hit seven times, was pronounced dead just before 2am Saturday, police said.

Young, 46, was in stable condition Saturday at Penn Presbyterian Hospital, as were the three other people hit by gunfire. Police had said both officers were in good spirits.

Ross said he was astounded the officers survived the close-range shooting, and recalled the Jan. 7 ambush shooting of Officer Jesse Hartnett. Hartnett was shot and wounded as he sat in his cruiser at an intersection by a man who investigators say told them he was "following Allah."

"(Young) had to do something very similar ... that Officer Hartnett did, and that is pretty much lean over in the passenger seat to try to shield herself from as many as those rounds as possible," Ross said.

Police didn't release the identities of others injured in the spree, pending notification of their families.