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 Police are working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to
verify the credibility of the tip related to the ambush shooting on
Thursday, which led to charges of attempted murder, assault and
aggravated assault against Edward Archer.
He later confessed to the attack and said he pledged allegiance to
Islamic State, police said.
Police said in a statement on Facebook on Sunday that a policeman
was stopped on the street on Saturday night by a citizen who began
talking about Archer and the shooting that seriously wounded officer
Jesse Hartnett.
"The citizen alleged the defendant had an affiliation to a group
with radical beliefs," police said. "The Philadelphia Police
Department has alerted all department personnel of this matter and
will continue to have officers work with a partner until further
notice."
Archer, 30, is accused of approaching Hartnett, 33, and firing 11
rounds, some at point-blank range, through the police car window.
Three shots struck the officer in his arm.
 Video of the attack on Hartnett shows a man in a long robe similar
to the traditional dishdasha, or thobe, often worn by Muslim men in
parts of the Middle East, as he opened fire on the police car.
Police officers nearby arrested him.
The Philadelphia Inquirer and television station NBC10 in
Philadelphia quoted police sources on Sunday as saying that
according to the tip-off Archer was associated with three other men
and was not the most extreme of the group. The sources said police
were warned the threat to them was not over, the two media outlets
said.
Police did not immediately return a call from Reuters for comment.
Anxiety over the threat posed by Islamic State in the United States
has risen in recent months. A Muslim couple inspired by the militant
group killed 14 people on Dec. 2 in San Bernardino, California, just
weeks after gunmen linked to the group killed 130 people in Paris.
People who knew the gunman told Reuters he was a devout, quiet
Muslim who became more "combative" after trips to Egypt and Saudi
Arabia.
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They said he began expressing interest in Islam as a teenager,
played in a local Muslim football league and worked on construction
jobs.
The imam of a local mosque where Archer worshipped, Asim Abdur
Rashid, said Archer’s Muslim name was Abdul Shaheed. He said Archer
had attended the West Philadelphia mosque, known as Masjid
Mujahideen, for at least five years. He saw him as recently as last
week.
“He was intelligent, and he was a regular dude,” Rashid said.
Rashid added that Archer regularly attended morning and evening
prayers, in addition to midday Friday prayers.
FBI Special Agent Eric Ruona said Archer had traveled to Saudi
Arabia in 2011 and Egypt in 2012 - a trip that a family friend said
had changed him.
"He became more drastic. More combative," said Jannah Abdulsalaam,
who asked only to be identified by her Muslim name. "He was kind but
I noticed that change."
(Reporting by Kevin Murphy in Kansas City, Mo. and Idrees Ali in
Washington.; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Peter Cooney, Jason Szep
and Simon Cameron-Moore)
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