PHILADELPHIA (MyFoxPhilly) – A Philadelphia police officer fighting for his life has undergone a second surgery after being shot during a struggle with a man inside a Feltonville mini-mart.
Officer Ed Davies was struck Tuesday by a bullet fired from a stolen handgun shoved up under his bulletproof vest, police say.
The gunshot fired against his stomach caused massive internal trauma, labeled as "life-threatening" by Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey after talking to his surgeons directly.
Davies, a 25th District officer, six-year force veteran and married father of four, is being kept in a medically-induced coma at Temple University Hospital, with damage to a kidney, a main artery and his stomach.
Ramsey told FOX 29's Steve Keeley on Wednesday morning that Davies needed his second surgery overnight after there was more bleeding, and he "may have lost a kidney."
"We continue to keep him in our prayers," Ramsey said. "He's still very critical and sedated."
The officer was shot with a .45-caliber Glock handgun that police say was stolen in a suburban burglary from another police officer's house 14 months ago.
"This is a gun that was reported stolen last year. Now it ends up in the hands – we don't know how – of a multiple-convicted person," Mayor Michael Nutter said Tuesday. "I don't know all of his charges and felonies and misdemeanors, but clearly, more than likely, should not ever have a weapon, and probably did not with a stolen weapon … walk into a licensed store and purchase this weapon. The .45-caliber Glock is a very powerful weapon."
It's the eighth time in five years a Philadelphia police officer has been shot.
Davies was among the police in Feltonville at noon Tuesday trying to arrest 31-year-old Eric Torres after he fled from a traffic stop. He had been driving in a BMW with no taillights.
Torres got out near his house, and instead of running into his home, he ran into the corner store nearby. That's where he got cornered and allegedly shot Davies during a struggle before other police officers with him tackled Torres and took that gun away safely, without him or any of the officers firing another shot. FOX 29's Steve Keeley reported that those other officers showed tremendous restraint to not shot an armed guy who had just shot their fellow officer right in front of them.
Police say a search of his Torres' last night turned up another illegal gun, plus lots of heroin, already packaged for sale on the street.
This is Torres' latest in a string of arrests, and it should keep him locked up for good this time unlike all the other times he was arrested and was getting sentences like six to 23 months and put right back on the street, Keeley reported.
"We need to really continue to examine our system, you know? This isn't the first time we've had something like this happen," Ramsey said. "I mean, you have people just over and over and over again commit crime, very serious crime. This is just one of many examples of this sort of thing. I don't know the answer to it. Certainly there are some people that don't need to be let out — certainly have some type of system where they could be better monitored and so forth. But very, very strong action — as far as Mr. Torres goes, he should never see the light of day."
Ramsey said Torres faces charges of attempted murder and more.
"Once his trial is complete and he's convicted, he should go away for a significant period of time, hopefully for the rest of his life," the commissioner said.