Off-duty officer shot in W. Phila.

An off-duty Philadelphia Police officer was shot on the 200 block of South 45th Street at 7:50 p.m. yesterday, marking the fourth shooting of a city police officer this year, according to Philadelphia Police Sergeant William Humes. The officer, also a sergeant, was walking to his personal car when he was robbed. He identified himself as a police officer, but the altercation continued, and he was shot in the right leg, according to Humes. Humes added that the sergeant was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania following the incident, where he was treated for the bullet wound. Two black males are suspected in the incident, Humes said. The altercation comes just over a month after another off-duty Philadelphia Police officer was shot near 38th and Powelton streets at approximately 11:30 p.m. on January 19. Philadelphia Police Narcotics Officer Robert Porter was shot after leaving Scooter's Lounge, a sports bar at 38th and Lancaster streets, only a few blocks from student hangouts such as FUBAR and Chili's Grill and Bar. He was taken to HUP, where he was pronounced dead before midnight. Prior to Porter's murder, Philadelphia Police Officer Lauretha Vaird was fatally shot January 2 while attempting to interrupt a bank robbery at a PNC Bank in the city's Feltonville section. Also in January, a sheriff's deputy was shot in the thigh in the 14th District of North Philadelphia while making an eviction.