On the night of March 1, 2022, four plainclothes police officers sat in an unmarked car in the area of 18th and Barbara streets near Barry Playground conducting a “surveillance” operation. 

Around 7:20, the officers observed two teenagers standing on the corner, one holding a firearm. In response, the officers turned on the emergency lights of their car and that’s when gunfire rang out and the back window of the car shattered.

Two officers got out of the car and fired at 12-year-old Thomas Siderio, who was holding the gun and began to flee. One of the officers gave chase and fired two more times at Siderio, striking him once in his upper back and exiting through his chest.

Siderio was transported to Penn Presbyterian Hospital, where he was pronounced dead in minutes.

Responding to the situation in a Twitter thread, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, said “a young child purposely fired a weapon at our officers.”

One of the officers was hospitalized with injuries stemming from the shattered glass, but is in stable condition.

Continuing, Outlaw lamented the situation.

“We should all be questioning how we as a society have failed him and so many other young people like him,” she wrote.

Outlaw also said the two officers that fired shots were placed on administrative leave and that the department’s Internal Affairs Division was investigating the incident.