The Philadelphia Police arrested a 37-year-old Trevose man armed with an AR-15 assault rifle after he allegedly tried to run down a police officer.
According to law enforcement officials, the incident occurred Wednesday when officers in the city’s 8th police district responded to a report of gunshots along the 13000 block of Townsend Road in Northeast Philadelphia.
Upon arrival, police said, officers heard a single gunshot and observed a white male in an orange shirt and khaki shorts holding an AR-15 in the air.
Police identified the male as William Opper of the unit block of Elbow Drive in Trevose.
After authorities saw Opper, law enforcement officials said he allegedly got into a 2004 white Ford truck and threw it into reverse, nearly striking an officer – and the officer’s patrol vehicle – on the scene before fleeing northbound toward Bensalem Township.
A short time later, Opper’s vehicle was involved in a crash and was found inoperable, police said. Opper then ran from that scene and got lost in a wooded area near where his vehicle crashed. After about 30 minutes, law enforcement officials discovered that Opper fled the scene of the accident in a silver vehicle and was headed to his sister’s house along the 2900 block of Devereaux Avenue in Mayfair, police said.
Officers in the city’s 15th district apprehended Opper at that location without incident, according to police.
An investigation into this incident is still ongoing, police said.
