Off-duty policeman fatally shoots son of police officers, 15

[Joanne98]

It seemed like an ordinary Monday afternoon at the corner store at Broad Street and Chew Avenue, where the clerk exchanged a friendly greeting with two teens who had just gotten out of a burgundy Cadillac.
One of the youths - William Smith, 15, the son of two city police officers - followed another teen who was headed toward a phone both near the store's entrance.

Seconds later, the two teens pulled pistols on Khalid Covil, 19, shot him at least a half-dozen times, and fled, police said. He was in critical condition last night.

"They just started shooting," said the clerk, who declined to give her name. "I live around here," she explained.

Minutes later, Smith would be killed by an off-duty officer in a struggle over a gun. The officer, who was still wearing his uniform trousers with a blue stripe, had witnessed the shooting and gave chase, police said.

"It's a tragedy, since it involves the police family," Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said yesterday. He promised a thorough investigation by Internal Affairs.

Police declined to identify the off-duty officer, but Ramsey said his account was consistent with witness reports. "A shooting happens in front of you - you're never really off-duty, you have to take action," Ramsey said.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20090114_Off-duty_policeman_fatally_shoots_son_of_police_officers__15.html

[derby378]

1. Oh, man...

This is really heavy. A 15-year-old boy. What he did was so stupid. He had his entire life ahead of him.

[Ghost in the Machine]

11. "He had his entire life ahead of him."

Yeah, so did the 19 year old he shot.. this was a justified shooting by the off duty cop... and I'm not one to *ever* give a cop much credit for anything.. I know a few good cops... but I've dealt with far too many dirty cops in my time.. dirty cops far outnumber the good ones.

[derby378]

16. No argument here...

The kid threw his life away. Really stupid of him.

[aikoaiko]

2. nasty, brutish, and short.

Its sad.

[Raskolnik]

3. Jebus. That is horrible.

[Statistical]

4. Why?

Son of police officer? He didn't need the money. He wasn't living on the street.

He just decided he was going to shoot a clerk?

Then ends up getting killed himself.

Why?
What a waste.

[RebelOne]

6. Did you read the entire story? It wasn't the clerk that was shot

and it wasn't a robbery. It was another teen that they were retaliating against.

[Statistical]

12. My mistake. The question still remains WHY?

A total waste.

A kid from a good home, tries to kill someone over "bad blood" then gets killed himself.

Why?

[okiru109]

5. my dad was a philly cop, you would think this kid would know better

don't resist a cop when you are armed
(really you shouldn't ever resist - let the lawyers do the battle after you are safely released from their custody - the cops are just doing their jobs and they deal with rough characters all the time)

[Historic NY]

10. glorified gangster lifestyle....he was taking revenge on a rival.

[Rebubula]

7. This Thread is Bizzare

OK...so some young punk gangs up with another thug and kills a third person in COLD BLOOD and the previous 5 posters seem to be giving sympathy to him because he was shot down by a cop????

No sympathy for the young man killed by this thug, but because Mr Smith was killed by a cop - poster #1 laments that 'he had his whole life ahead'.

Wow...just wow

[greguganus]

8. Wait till they find out the cop was a rethug. n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

17. ... who shopped at WalMart. n/t

[Obamanaut]

22. And pushed his own cart back to the front of the store. nt

[HardWorkingDem]

9. Even the report headline is misleading....

When I read the article headline and OP headline I thought maybe the OP and article was about some sort of strange link or something between the two, but instead, after reading it, a person will find the incident is entirely different.

[Raskolnik]

14. I can't speak for the other 4 posters, but I believe this is a horrible tragedy for all involved.

First and foremost the victim and his family, but the poor off-duty officer that was put in this position and forced to kill a 15 year old kid.

And, I don't know anything beyond what was in the story about the "young punk" at issue, but I tend to think it is a tragedy whenever a child does something this terrible.

[Locrian]

13. for fucks sake

I HATE these kind of misleading headlines.

"Son of police officer kills teen, later killed in struggle with cop"

Now was THAT hard?

[Raskolnik]

15. I agree that it is an intentionally misleading headline.

Not the fault of the OP, of course, but the newspaper should have done better.

[prole_for_peace]

18. "It's a tragedy, since it involves the police family"???

That's not why it's a tragedy. This shouldn't be any different than if it wasn't a kid of cops. If should be treated the same way as all investigations. I don't see why they are getting IA involved.

[Barack_America]

19. A Philly corrections officer's kid killed a cop a year ago.

A badge apparently doesn't make people good parents.

[WI_DEM]

20. If you do the crime you may have to do the time or worse--end up dead.

[jmg257]

21. "It's a tragedy, since it involves the police family"?? Not that 2 people were shot w/1 killed?

Not that teenagers were able to obtain guns? Not that 3 youths were involved with trying to commit murder? Not that a police officer had to kill some one - any one?

Nice guy this commissioner. I wonder what his story is.