Philadelphia gunman left note before fatal shooting spree, police say

The man behind an unprovoked attack on a police officer in Philadelphia wrote a cryptic note before shooting one women dead and wounding three others, authorities said.

Local man Nicholas Glenn has been identified as the gunman responsible for the alleged shooting rampage last night, CNN reported.

Glenn allegedly ambushed a police sergeant and fired rounds into a bar and at a car before police shot him dead, authorities said.

Police have now revealed he left a short note, titled “Doomed”, expressing hatred for the police prior to the attack.

" Obviously he was hell-bent on hurting a lot of people. We still aren't sure why," Police Commissioner Richard Ross told reporters.

" Right now we have a lot of questions. This is completely a bizarre situation,” Officer Ross added.

Police alleged Glenn approached a marked police car around 11.20pm last night (local time) and, without speaking, fired up to 15 shots at Sergeant Sylvia Young, a 19-year veteran of the Philadelphia force.

She was struck in the arm and the chest, but protected by a bulletproof vest.

The assailant then fled on foot as police gave chase.

He fired into a bar, striking a security guard in the leg, then grabbed a woman to use as a human shield. She too was shot in the leg.

Glenn then fired 14 rounds into a white car, striking its occupants, a man and a woman.

The woman later died from wounds to the torso; the man remains in a critical condition in hospital.

Glenn then ran into a nearby alleyway, where he was cornered and killed by three police officers.  

During the ambush, University of Pennsylvania officer Eddie Miller, 56, who joined the chase was shot in the legs. He was hospitalised in stable condition.

Officer Young was also listed in stable condition.

Lieutenant John Stanford, a Philadelphia police spokesman, tweeted that the shooting was "#senseless" and "driven by hatred."

The neighborhood where the shootings occurred is diverse, but predominantly African-American.

With AFP