Officials are offering a $35,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of a gunman who shot and killed the son of a Philadelphia Police Department official on Saturday night.
NBC Philadelphia is reporting that Nicholas Flacco, 20, is the son of PPD Chief Inspector of the department’s Internal Affairs Unit. He was gunned down in FDR Park at about 10 p.m. Police responded to a report of a shooting in the city park Saturday night.
Witnesses told police that the suspect was dressed in all black, and fled the scene in a green sedan. Flacco and his friends were celebrating his 20th birthday, and were walking through FDR Park after attending a Phillies game. He and his friends were reportedly tailgating.
On Monday, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said that two groups of women had an altercation before the male shooter appeared. Ross said the man could be a third party, and that his connection to the altercation is in question along with any motive for the shooting. The gunman reportedly fired two shots, one into the air and another into the ground, and then began to walk away. Police said the gunman turned and fired his weapon at Flacco’s chest from about 15 feet away.
“We don’t have any idea what role this male played in it,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross told CBS Philly. “All indications are that the people out there did not know him. There is no suggestion that he was involved in the initial argument, whatsoever. That is what makes it even more confusing. So, again, there are a lot of things that we don’t know. There is no indication right now that Nicholas Flacco was involved in any physical confrontation. It appears that this individual deliberately fired a round into his chest and took his life.”
The Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 is offering a $10,000 reward for anyone with information leading to an arrest. The city of Philadelphia is also offering $20,000, and the Philadelphia Firefighters & Paramedics Union Local 22 is offering $5,000, bringing the total to $35,000. “Somebody saw what happened there last night,” FOP Lodge 5 President John McNesby said in a statement. “Somebody should bring them forward.”
