North Philly shootout left neighbors wondering: Why did police make a mess and leave us to clean up?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.inquirer.com/news/maurice-hill-north-philadelphia-nicetown-police-standoff-20190822.html

For thousands who watched live TV coverage or followed social-media updates chronicling the Aug. 14 standoff in Tioga in which six policemen were shot, it appeared alleged gunman Maurice Hill bore sole responsibility for the mayhem.

But for those who live on the 3700 block of North 15th Street — who spent nearly eight hours under siege — the reality remains far murkier. Now residents of a block-long crime scene, their battered and bullet-riddled cars still impounded for evidence, they blame the police for what happened almost as much as they do Hill.


The police are the ones who came into their neighborhood to serve a search warrant for narcotics, apparently unprepared for so violent a response. The police, in some cases, are the ones who damaged their property. But, with hundreds of police on the block, it seemed to residents as if no one went to check on them. And now, a week later, they have not heard from police about how to move forward, or who will pay for the damage.

“If you’re going to come into a community and do this,” said Eric Garrity, 38, who lives across the street from the house where Hill was, “at least clean up.”