A Philadelphia police officer was killed and another seriously injured after authorities said a man ambushed them with a shotgun early Saturday outside his West Philadelphia home. The suspect, who continued to shoot at responding officers before being arrested, is a city employee.
Shane Seiber, 40, a father of two, died from multiple gunshot wounds, and his colleague, a 33-year-old man with nine years of service, is fighting for his life, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said.
Bethel said Seiber, a 10-year veteran of the department, was struck three times and died at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center shortly after 9 a.m. His colleague, who was shot 12 times, remained hospitalized at Penn Presbyterian in stable condition but was “not out of the woods yet,” the commissioner said.
Officers responded to the 100 block of North 52nd Street shortly after midnight Saturday following reports of a man with a gun on his porch. As the officers approached the home, a man later identified as Eric Lewis began shooting at them, hitting each officer multiple times, Bethel said.
Moments after shooting at the officers, the shooter took one of their guns, Bethel said. And when other officers rushed in, he fired at them, but no one else was hit, Bethel said.
The SWAT team responded and secured the area, and the shooter was later found in a tree, armed with the shotgun, a handgun and the stolen police Glock, Bethel said. He was taken into custody.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said at a news conference Saturday afternoon that Lewis shot nine other officers. Krasner called the shooting a “brutal, senseless and horrific murder.”
Lewis faces charges of murder, attempted murder, disarming a law enforcement officer and related crimes, Krasner said. He will appear in court for a preliminary arraignment in the coming days and will be held in jail without bail, the prosecutor said. It was not immediately clear whether Lewis had an attorney.
A community in mourning
Dozens of members of the police department and city leaders gathered outside Penn Presbyterian Medical Center Saturday morning and into the afternoon, mourning and comforting one another under crisp blue skies. Alongside Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, Bethel appeared shaken as he asked for the city’s prayers and announced the death of one of his officers.
Seiber, he said, was married with a 7-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter. His wife and other relatives were by his side before his death.
“He fought valiantly, but he lost his life today,” Bethel said.
“I continue to ask the community to keep him and his family in their prayers,” he said. “This will be a time of mourning for us, but we will stand tall as a department. We can get through this together.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro told the X that he had ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff in Seiber’s honor.
“Our law enforcement officers are the best among us,” he said. “They risk their lives every day… not knowing if they will return home. We owe them our deepest gratitude.”
Parker said Seiber sacrificed his life to “protect and serve our city,” calling his decision to become a police officer “noble and courageous.”
“A woman is now without her husband (and) two babies are without their father,” she said. “Family, friends and colleagues…feel a deep-rooted sense of loss that words are…unable to explain. »
The mayor pledged to work to prevent such a tragedy from happening again, saying her administration would seek to expand “involuntary commitment laws” to cover serious mental health crises and substance use disorders that could “interfere with Philadelphia’s ability to keep Philadelphia safe.”
It was not immediately clear whether the suspected shooter showed signs of mental illness or substance use, and Krasner declined to answer when asked about it.
Lewis has a criminal history dating back more than a decade, according to court records. Krasner said he has no felony convictions that would have prevented him from owning a gun.
In 2012, he was accused of theft and receiving stolen property. He was later convicted and sentenced to two years of probation. Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Kennedy also ordered Lewis to undergo drug treatment.
He was arrested again the following year and charged with carrying a firearm in public and simple assault, both misdemeanors. He was convicted in 2015 and sentenced to five years of probation. A judge ordered Lewis to undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation as well as a mental health evaluation.
Near the end of his supervision, in 2018, he was convicted of disorderly conduct for fighting and sentenced to a year of probation, as well as three additional years of court supervision in the gun case.
Lewis, 35, is a helper in the city’s water department. City payroll records show Lewis has worked for the department since 2024 and receives $47,746 annually.
District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents municipal workers, said in a statement Saturday that the crimes Lewis is accused of do not represent the union’s standards.
“District Council 33 does not tolerate violence in any form or under any circumstances,” said union president Greg Boulware. “This act of violence does not reflect our values, our mission or the conduct we expect of our members.”
“It’s a nice block.”
City Councilman Jamie Gauthier, who represents West Philadelphia, called the shooting “incredibly tragic” during the afternoon news conference and stressed the need for more mental health services.
“I don’t know what specifically was going on with the suspect, but I think we can all agree that this is not normal or acceptable behavior,” she said. “Just a tragedy for our city.”
Anaya Brewer, 23, said she had lived on the block of North 52nd Street her entire life and had never seen such a police presence.
Brewer said she was awakened by the sound of gunshots.
“There was screaming and yelling,” she said.
Another resident, Leannett Hill, said she didn’t hear the shooting and was stunned to see video from her neighborhood on the news.
“It’s a nice neighborhood,” said Hill, who has lived in the neighborhood since 2024. “Almost everyone gets along in this neighborhood.”
Her daughter, Camilla Vanessa Stephenson, was fatally shot in 2011 and Hill said she sympathized with the officers’ families.
“It’s a hurtful feeling knowing that your family members are being shot and could die,” Hill said.
Staff writer Anna Orso contributed to this article.
Correction: This story has been updated to correctly reflect the history of Lewis’s beliefs.
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