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$10K Award for Arrest of Perp Who Shot Cop

Sgt. Robert Ralston [Philadelphia Police Department]

PHILADELPHIA – The Fraternal Order of Police is offering a $10,000 reward for the arrest of a man who shot a Philadelphia police sergeant early Monday.

“This reward is for the arrest – not the arrest and conviction – just the arrest,” said FOP President John McNesby. “If you bring him in off the street today, you’re paid.”

Sgt. Robert Ralston, a 21-year-veteran, was shot in the shoulder about 4 a.m. on railroad tracks near 56th Street and Lancaster Avenue in West Philadelphia, when he tried to stop a suspicious man in reference to a recent rash of burglaries, police said.

The man pointed a firearm at Ralston’s head and fired but the sergeant swatted the gun away, averting a life-threatening wound, police said. Ralston returned fire at the suspect and may have hit him in the torso, police said.

McNesby was joined by Mayor Nutter, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and other top brass yesterday to announce the reward.

“We are just fortunate, we are very, very fortunate, given some of the things that have happened in the past, that this was not a more serious incident,” Nutter said.

Ramsey said the city would be a much safer place with the suspect off the streets.

“An individual who will do something like that is likely to do it again,” Ramsey said.

The suspect is described as a black man in his mid-20s with cornrows and a mark or tattoo under his left eye.

“The first 24 to 48 hours is the best time to be able to get this person,” McNesby said.

Anyone with information about the man’s whereabouts is urged to call detectives at 215-686-3334 or 9-1-1.