After shooting six police officers during a standoff that lasted almost eight hours, 36-year-old Maurice Hill surrendered to authorities.
According to the Washington Post, Hill surrendered on Thursday shortly after midnight and is expected to face a litany of charges from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, including attempted murder and aggravated assault.
Philadelphia Police Sgt. Eric Gripp took to Twitter to confirm that Hill was taken into custody.
“UPDATE: Suspect is in custody,” Gripp tweeted around midnight. “SWAT is still clearing the house.”
While Hill’s motive remains unclear, footage of his violent shootout with police circulated throughout social media on Wednesday, with #JawnWick—a play on both local Philly slang and the popular film franchise John Wick—trending on Twitter.
The Washington Post details how the encounter began:
Gunfire first broke out around 4:30 p.m., Ross told reporters, after officers attempted to serve a narcotics warrant “that went awry almost immediately.” Once they were inside the home, a barrage of bullets forced officers to return fire and retreat through windows and doors.
More than three hours after the first shots rang out, police were still locked in a dangerous standoff with the gunman barricaded inside the home, trading shots with officers outside. Residents, forced to dive behind cars and hide in their homes, described the scene like a war zone: Bullets flew through the streets, and wafts of gunpowder filled the air.
“It was like a war, like a scene that you see in war,” one resident in the neighborhood told NBC. “The guns, the fire, the noise—it was like bombs going off simultaneously at a time where people are having dinner.”
What finally brought the chaos to a close was Hill’s former lawyer, Shaka Johnson, who was watching the bedlam unfold on television.
WaPo reports:
Johnson told The Post on Thursday that he was watching the standoff on television when Hill called him around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday sounding “defeated.” Johnson said he participated in three- and four-way calls with Hill, Ross and District Attorney Larry Krasner over the next few hours to try to convince Hill to surrender.
Hill eventually asked Johnson to come to the house, Johnson said, and he arrived around 11:45 p.m. Johnson said he used a megaphone to assure Hill that he was there.
“At some point he said he would come out,” Johnson said. “He said it very plainly: ‘I don’t want to die. I don’t want to end it this way.’ ”
Soon after, the father of two surrendered.
He was treated for tear-gas exposure at a nearby hospital before being released into police custody.
“We’re thankful—a little angry about someone having all that weaponry and all that firepower—but we’ll get to that another day,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said Thursday during a news conference. “It’s about the officers and their families right now.”
To that end, St. Gripp confirmed the status of the wounded officers.
“UPDATE: ALL six officers who were shot have been released from area hospitals,” he tweeted. “One Officer is being admitted for injuries sustained in a vehicle crash related to the incident.”
Others have taken to Twitter to express their relief that despite the severity of the circumstances, no lives were lost in the exchange of gunfire.