Violent protests and widespread looting continued for a second night in Philadelphia on Tuesday in response to the fatal police shooting of a knife-wielding black man. The raucous night comes even as Philadelphia police said they put more officers on the street and the Pennsylvania National Guard announced they were mobilizing in response to the unrest.
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Live video shot from an ABC6 chopper shows hundreds of people looting a number of businesses, including a Foot Locker and an Aaron’s, which sells furniture and electronics.
Looters can be seen lifting the store’s metal gate for others to enter and leave, some with arms full of shoeboxes. One person can be seen dragging a mannequin in the parking lot. A U-haul van briefly appears in the parking lot before pulling away.
Hundreds of more looters were captured on film from a Fox29 helicopter exiting a Walmart in the city, many carrying large boxes that appear to be TVs and other electronics.
About a 1,000 other looters hit shops in the Port Richmond neighborhood in the northern section of the city, the police department said in a tweet.
Police urged residents in large swaths of the city to remain indoors amid the unrest.
“The Philadelphia Police Department is requesting that all residents in the 12, 16, 18, 19, 24, 25, and 26th Districts remain indoors except when necessary. These areas are experiencing widespread demonstrations that have turned violent with looting,” the city’s Office of Emergency Management said in a tweet at about 9:35 p.m.
The violent protests were sparked when Philadelphia cops shot and killed 27-year-old Walter Wallace Jr. on Monday. His family said Wallace was having “mental health issues” when police arrived for the third time in one day. Police said they shot him when he refused to drop a knife he was holding.
Walter Wallace Sr. told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his son was shot 10 times, adding that he was mentally ill and a young father. The fatal confrontation was recorded by bystanders and published on social media.
Wallace Sr. denounced the looting and riots from outside the family’s home Tuesday night, the Inquirer reported.
“They’re not helping my family, they’re showing disrespect,” Wallace Sr. said, according to the outlet. “Stop this violence and chaos. People have businesses. We all got to eat.”
At least 90 people have been charged in the violent protests so far, police said Tuesday. That number could rise further as cases remain under investigation and unrest mounts, police officials said.
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“This completely caught us off guard in the sense that, one, no one can predict that there’s an officer-involved shooting,” Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “And, two, once we arrived there, we saw that there would be civil unrest.”
Outlaw has declined to make the identities of the officers involved public, as is department policy, she said. Both Outlaw and Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Tuesday that the shooting is under review. Krasner pledged an impartial investigation at a press briefing earlier in the day.
“We are not out to cover for anybody,” he said. “We are not out to get anybody.”
