Phila. Police kill man after U. City chase

A high-speed car chase through parts of campus and West Philadelphia last night ended with Philadelphia Police officers killing a man who was a suspect in a homicide following a shoot-out at 52nd Street and Warrington Avenue. The 19-year-old man was pronounced dead at 10:45 p.m. after he was rushed to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania to be treated for a gunshot wound, HUP officials said late last night. Neither hospital nor police officials would release the man's name. The WPVI television station reported last night that the officers from Philadelphia's 12th District believed the man was a suspect in a murder yesterday of a 21-year-old man on the 5400 block of Eastwood Terrace in Northeast Philadelphia. None of the officers involved in the gunfire were injured, Philadelphia Police said last night. According to an officer with the Philadelphia Homicide Division, the police officers involved in the chase were sitting in a stationary vehicle when they received reports of a suspect involved in a homicide. The police "ended up jumping in the vehicle and taking off," following the suspect in a "fairly long" car chase that ended at the intersection of 52nd Street and Warrington Avenue when the suspect's vehicle crashed into another car, police said. When the suspect's car crashed, an "exchange in gunfire" ensued, leaving the suspect wounded, police said. According to WPVI -- whose helicopter followed the chase -- four officers opened fire on the man at the intersection. The chase took place just as much of the sold-out Palestra crowd was leaving the arena at the end of last night's Penn-Princeton men's basketball game, allowing many people who exited the building to see some of the chase. Witnesses reported seeing up to a dozen police cars driving west on Spruce and Walnut streets in pursuit of the suspect. According to Penn Police, who did not take part in the chase, the 12th District Philadelphia Police were "chasing a car for what they believed to be some kind of homicide." Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer Stephanie Oliva contributed to this article.