A man suspected of shooting six police officers during an hourslong standoff that ended when tear gas caused the man to surrender was charged with attempted murder.
Authorities have said that the criminal background of suspect Maurice Hill should have prevented him from legally owning the firepower used during the standoff that lasted deep into the night.
Court documents indicate that Maurice Hill, 36, faces multiple counts of attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault on a law enforcement officer, and reckless endangering. He was denied bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 5.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that at Saturday's video arraignment, Hill sat with arms crossed and head down, responding "I guess" when asked whether he understood the charges.
"I am not an immediate danger," he said after a prosecutor argued for denial of bail. A message was left with Hill's attorney seeking comment.
Hill had at least a semi-automatic rifle and a handgun when he opened fire Wednesday afternoon on officers serving a drug warrant, authorities said.
His record includes multiple arrests in Philadelphia and adjacent Delaware County between 2001 and 2012, according to online records.
Hill's criminal convictions include assault, perjury, fleeing and eluding, escape and weapons offenses.
He served two stints in state prisons — three, counting a return for a probation violation. He was sentenced to 55 months in federal prison term over a pair of convictions for being a felon in possession of firearms.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross has expressed amazement that the standoff ended with no one dead and no life-threatening injuries, despite the gunman firing over 100 rounds.
The six officers who were struck by gunfire were released after being treated at hospitals Wednesday night.
Four other men were charged with drug offenses in connection with the standoff; two were trapped in the house along with the gunman and two Philadelphia police officers, the Inquirer reported.
Hill's lawyer, Shaka Johnson, said Hill called him during the standoff asking for help surrendering. Johnson then called Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, and they patched in both Hill and the police commissioner, according to Krasner.
Hill told Johnson he wanted to make it out alive to see his newborn daughter and teenage son again.
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TRUMP TRIAL OPENING-AP EXPLAINS — Opening statements in Donald Trump’s hush money trial set the stage for weeks of testimony about the former president’s personal life and places his legal troubles at the center of his closely contested campaign against President Joe Biden. An AP reporter debrief. Newsroom Ready and Consumer Ready edits.
BIDEN-EARTH DAY — President Joe Biden marked Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal grants for residential solar projects serving households in low- and middle-income communities — while blasting Republicans who want to gut his policies to address climate change. Newsroom Ready and Consumer Ready edits.
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TRUMP-HUSH MONEY — Donald Trump tried to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election by preventing damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public, a prosecutor told jurors at the start of the former president’s historic hush money trial. SENT: 1,270 words, photos, video. With TRUMP-HUSH MONEY-TAKEAWAYS — Opening statements provide a clear roadmap of how prosecutors will try to make the case that Trump broke the law, and how the defense plans to fight the charges.
BIDEN-EARTH DAY — President Joe Biden marked Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal grants for residential solar projects serving 900,000-plus households in low- and middle-income communities — while criticizing Republicans who want to gut his policies to address climate change. SENT: 860 words, photos.
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Former president Donald Trump, center, awaits the start of proceedings at Manhattan criminal court, Monday, April 22, 2024, in New York. Opening statements in Donald Trump's historic hush money trial are set to begin. Trump is accused of falsifying internal business records as part of an alleged scheme to bury stories he thought might hurt his presidential campaign in 2016. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool)
