PHILADELPHIA -- A "rambling" note expressing hatred for police was found after a man opened fire on a Philadelphia police officer, then went on a shooting rampage, injuring a second officer, killing a woman and wounding three other people before he was shot and killed by police in an alley, authorities said Saturday.
Police Commissioner Richard Ross identified the gunman in the Friday overnight rampage as Nicholas Glenn, 25, who was "well-known" to police and has a criminal record.
Ross said Glenn had a 9mm Ruger and at least three magazines, as well as a plastic bag with 13-15 live rounds. Investigators were trying to track the origins of the weapon, which had an obliterated serial number.
"Obviously, he was hellbent on hurting a lot of people," the commissioner said at a news conference, adding that "we aren't absolutely clear as to why."
The note was addressed to "Doomed People" and expressed hatred for law enforcement and a probation officer.
The note was found on the gunman, Ross said. Police believe Glenn acted on his own and not as part of a group.
"This rambling suggests that he clearly was trying to target a police officer, as he did ... so it just kind of makes it very clear to us what he was out there to do," Ross said.
He said police described the violent events as "completely bizarre."
The chase and shootout through the streets of Philadelphia began about 11:20 p.m. Friday when Sgt. Sylvia Young, a 19-year police veteran, was ambushed while sitting in her patrol car in west Philadelphia. She was shot a number of times in the 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."
Officers hearing the shots pursued the gunman, who then fired into a nearby bar, hitting a security guard in the leg, then grabbed a woman and used her as a shield before shooting her in the leg, Ross said. Moments later, Glenn shot into a car, hitting a man and a woman in the chest. The woman, who was hit seven times, was pronounced dead just before 2 a.m. Saturday, police said.
Ross said two police officers and University of Pennsylvania police officer Ed Miller chased the man into an alley, where Glenn was shot and killed. Miller was wounded.
Miller, 56, and Young, 46, were in stable condition Saturday at Penn Presbyterian Hospital, as were the three civilians also hit by gunfire. Police said Miller was shot in the pelvis and right ankle.
Ross referred to the Jan. 7 shooting in Philadelphia of officer Jesse Hartnett, who was ambushed as he sat in his cruiser at an intersection. The gunman in that case reportedly told investigators that 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.
Seconds after she was shot, Young was heard on the police radio screaming, "I'm at the McDonald's on 51st Street. Help me, please!"
In a news conference after the shooting, Ross said, "It is absolutely amazing that she is here, along with some of the other [victims]."
Aside from the officers, the identities of the other people injured in the rampage were not immediately released.
Mayor Jim Kenney told ABC-affiliate WPTV that the injured officers were awake and conscious when he visited them early Saturday.
"I had the opportunity to be with both police officers this evening and their families," Kenney said.
"One officer was cracking jokes with his kids and wife. The other officer was talking with her family. So we are happy, very blessed that that's the way it turned out. I think we have to keep them in our prayers."
Information for this article was contributed by Megan Trimble of The Associated Press and by Cleve R. Wootson Jr. of The Washington Post.
A Section on 09/18/2016