Overview
- Police say Officer Azieme Lindsey shot 32-year-old Joseph Smithers outside St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children after Smithers pulled a handgun at a bus stop, with the shooting occurring on Thursday during a welfare-check call.
- Authorities recovered a Smith & Wesson pistol that they say Smithers legally carried and they say Smithers did not fire the weapon before he was struck.
- Both Lindsey and the second responding officer had their body-worn cameras activated during the encounter, and police have not yet released the footage.
- Lindsey, 28, was placed on administrative duty while the Philadelphia Police Department and the District Attorney’s Office conduct parallel investigations, and a 29-year-old woman was grazed and treated at Temple University Hospital.
- The case raises questions about how hospital security, police welfare checks and crisis responses handle people with mental-health needs, and the investigation and body-camera review will shape any legal or policy outcomes.