Philadelphia should have been celebrating: the Phillies clinched a playoff berth, and the Eagles beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Monday Night Football. It's the first time the Eagles have started 3-0 in consecutive seasons since 1993. Instead, there was absolute mayhem from the mass looting and rioting that broke out in the city (via CBS News):
Trouble ensued in Philadelphia's Center City as groups of mostly young people looted several stores and there was a reported assault at a Foot Locker on Tuesday evening.
CBS Philadelphia was on the scene where a large roving group looting several stores throughout Center City, including the Foot Locker and Apple Store near 15th and Chestnut.
Along with the looting of stores, a security guard was assaulted at the Foot Locker.
There was also looting captured at the nearby Lululemon store on Walnut Street in Rittenhouse Square.
Police have said they have made multiple arrests after the incidents.
Mass #BLM-inspired looting broke out in downtown Philadelphia after a judge dismissed charges against a police officer who shot dead a Latino man in a car who was armed with a knife. The direct action was organized by the Party of Socialism & Liberation.https://t.co/CPcpT76QxP
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) September 27, 2023
Y'all, this is so precious. All the little street urchins are getting free iPhones. #philly #philadelphia #riots #looting pic.twitter.com/MMK8ZkacMn
— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) September 27, 2023
🚨#BREAKING: All philly liquor stores have been closed today after at least 18 were broken after last night’s mass looting in Philadelphia pic.twitter.com/0Btz2jASv2
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) September 27, 2023
The unrest was caused in response to a judge tossing the murder charges against a Philadelphia police officer involved in the shooting death of Eddie Irizarry (via Associated Press):
A judge dismissed murder and other charges Tuesday against a Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed a driver through a rolled-up window — a confrontation police initially described as the officer shooting the driver after he lunged at him with a knife outside the car.
Municipal Judge Wendy Pew agreed with defense attorneys who argued the officer could have feared for his life because he thought the driver, 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry, had a gun.
Police body camera footage shown at the preliminary hearing of fired Officer Mark Dial showed Irizarry holding a knife near his right leg as police approached his stopped vehicle. The officers had pulled Irizarry over on a residential street after a short pursuit prompted by erratic driving.
The ruling came after a courtroom, packed with police and relatives of Irizarry, watched about 20 minutes of the harrowing video footage. His attorneys argued that Dial acted in self-defense when he fired his weapon at close range shortly after noon on Aug. 14.
It doesn’t look like the riots from the summer of 2020, but it adds to the ongoing narrative that cities have become havens for crime and lawlessness under Democrats.