HERE AND NOW: Residents in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Germantown are trying to make sense of yet another police shooting — the seventh time police have shot a suspect in Philadelphia in the past week. Four of the shootings have been fatal, including one yesterday. A bullet also grazed a two-year-old boy. The latest shooting came hours after Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey asked federal investigators to look into the department’s use of force. New York City and Las Vegas have conducted similar reviews of police practices. But what has been going on in Philly this week? MORE
RELATED: Tom Berry has watched his brother die five times. On a steamy August night last year, Michael Berry, 40, who had just assaulted a man, was shot and killed by a plainclothes Philadelphia Police officer. A surveillance video camera recorded the incident. Though he’s reviewed the video over and over, Tom Berry doesn’t understand why the officer fired seven shots at his younger brother, striking him six times in the chest and back. “Couldn’t they have just stopped him, wounded Mike in the arm, the leg or hip?” he asked. “Why didn’t the officers stop it from escalating?” More than nine months later, city authorities have not provided the Berry family any closure. Tom Berry said they have received no information about the District Attorney’s investigation. MORE