There’s ‘no doubt’ gunman was targeting police officers, Pennsylvania prosecutor says

There’s “no doubt” a gunman who fired at police in several locations in the Pennsylvania state capital, wounding one of them before they shot and killed him, was targeting police officers, a prosecutor said.

Ahmed Aminamin El-Mofty fired at a Harrisburg police officer Friday afternoon and later at a state trooper, wounding and then pursuing her, Dauphin County Dist. Atty. Ed Marsico said.

“He fired several shots at a Capitol police officer and at a Pennsylvania state police trooper in marked vehicles,” Marsico, flanked by state and Capitol police and FBI officials, told reporters.

The gunfire began shortly after 4 p.m. Friday, when a man fired several shots at a state Capitol officer in downtown Harrisburg, striking his car several times and sending one shot “that went very close to hitting him,” Marsico said. About 20 or 30 minutes later, he fired several shots at the state trooper, striking her once.

The trooper is “doing well,” is in good condition and is expected to make a full recovery, Marsico said.

The gunman pursued the trooper to a residential neighborhood, where city and state police encountered him.

“He approached them with two handguns ... firing many shots at those police officers,” and the officers returned fire, killing him, Marsico said.

El-Mofty had ties to the Middle East and recently traveled there, but the motive for the attack was unknown, Marsico said.

The Department of Homeland Security said El-Mofty was a naturalized U.S. citizen who was admitted to the country from Egypt on a family-based immigrant visa.

Acting Homeland Security press secretary Tyler Q. Houlton said Saturday that “the long chain of migration” that led to El-Mofty’s admission to the U.S. was initiated years ago by a distant relative.

Houlton said incidents like the one involving El-Mofty “highlight the Trump administration’s concerns with extended family chain migration.” He said chain migration and the diversity visa lottery program have been exploited by extremists.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said Saturday that he talked with the director of Homeland Security as federal, state and local law enforcement authorities investigate the shootings.

“I again want to thank officers who put themselves in harm’s way to prevent further injury or loss of life,” Wolf said on Twitter.

Marsico also expressed gratitude to state and local police for bringing a rapid end to an episode he said could have been much worse.

“This could have been a really tragic [incident] with this individual firing many shots at police cars in downtown Harrisburg in the midst of rush-hour traffic on a Friday afternoon and then coming up here in a residential neighborhood and firing again many shots,” he said.

UPDATES:

8:05 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Tyler Q. Houlton, a Homeland Security Department spokesman.

This article was originally published at 12:45 p.m.