Police fatally shoot suspect in Philadelphia stabbings

Philadelphia police said officers fatally shot a man who stabbed two boys, one of them his son, and attacked three other people Wednesday night.

The attacks began shortly after 7 p.m. in the city’s west Philadelphia neighbourhood when the man grabbed his teenage daughter by the throat, WPVI-TV reported. Police said the man then slashed his 8-year-old son’s throat and stabbed him before stabbing his son’s 13-year-old friend.

Authorities said the man then went to the nearby home of a family friend and once allowed inside he attacked two women. One was slashed and a second was punched.

Police responded after receiving calls of a man firing a weapon.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said officers confronted the man as he came out of the friend’s home with his hand in his pocket. Ross said officers ordered the suspect to remove his hand and fired when he “abruptly” took his hand out.

No gun was recovered.

The man was taken to a hospital, where he later died. The two boys, who are badly injured, are being treated at a hospital.

The conditions of the other victims were not immediately known.