[3][4] Uniformed police officer Jesse Hartnett was driving his marked Chevrolet Impala patrol car at about 11:40 p.m. at 60th Street and Spruce Street in West Philadelphia, when Archer, who had had no previous contact with the police on that particular evening, suddenly rushed toward the patrol car and fired 13 shots at Harnett, shoving his gun through the window to fire at point blank range.
[24][25] He was allegedly armed with a 9mm Glock 17 handgun capable of carrying 13 rounds, which was reported stolen from the home of a police officer in October 2013;[6][7][11][25][26] the gun was recovered shortly after the shooting in Archer's thawb.
[29] He was well known to Asim Abdur Rashid, imam of Masjid Mujahideen on south 60th Street in West Philadelphia, who knew him by his Muslim name, Abdul Shaheed.
[32] According to an FBI official, Archer spent time in Saudi Arabia from October to November 2011 for Hajj (the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca).
[5][6][32][34] In November 2015, he had been found guilty of several charges that included fraud and forgery; he was out on probation and awaiting sentencing for that case at the time of the shooting.
[32] Discussion of whether this shooting was an instance of lone wolf terrorism inspired by Islamist propaganda, or was a crime committed by an individual suffering from some form of mental illness began immediately and have continued, provoked by Archer's claim, made shortly after he was arrested, that he shot the police officer in the name of Islam.
"[41] In their 2017 book The Age of Lone Wolf Terrorism, Mark Hamm, a criminologist at Indiana State University and Ramon Spaaij, a sociologist at Victoria University, Australia, describe Archer as a lone wolf terrorist, a type of individual who, according to Hamm and Spaaij, are usually unemployed, single, white males with a criminal record who tend to be older, and who are likely to have less education, and also more likely to have a record of mental illness, than other violent criminals.
[42][44][43] The authors of an article in the CTC Sentinel entitled "Is There a Nexus Between Terrorist Involvement and Mental Health in the Age of the Islamic State?"
discuss this shooting as a case in which "mental health problems were alluded to by non-experts (often family, friends, neighbors) but latched onto by the wider media as concrete evidence of a disorder’s presence (and presumably direct role in the violent intent/actions)."
"[46] Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney condemned the shooting,[10] but asserted that, "In no way, shape or form does anybody in this room believe that Islam or the teaching of Islam" have anything to do with the shooting, a statement for which he was taken to task by Dorothy Rabinowitz, who accused the Mayor of making an assertion that was "bizarre in their determined denial of the deluge of facts delivered by top police officials standing next to him," at the press conference held shortly after the attack.
[47] Kenny's statement was also harshly criticized by political commentator Dana Loesch in her book Flyover Nation: You Can't Run a Country You've Never Been To.
[50] Fellow Upon Further Review writer Susan Lin responded critically to Kravitz's article, citing Archer's apparent mental health issues.
[55] On April 11, 2016, Hartnett was honored by the Philadelphia Phillies by being invited to throw the opening pitch, and also permitted to propose marriage to his girlfriend on the ballfield.
As a result, all law enforcement agencies in Philadelphia were put on high alert, officers were ordered to work in pairs, and an investigation into the tip by a federal and local Joint Terrorism Task Force was launched.
[60] The next day, Comey announced that the FBI at the time had not found any evidence that Archer was involved with any terrorist cells or that there were any other planned attacks in Philadelphia.
[62] On January 9, Archer was arraigned on one count of attempted murder, along with charges of aggravated assault on a police officer, reckless endangerment, making terroristic threats, possessing an instrument of crime, violating a uniform firearms act, and related offenses.
[65] Municipal Court Judge Marsha H. Neifield ordered Archer to be held "on all charges, including attempted murder and aggravated assault, assaulting a law enforcement officer, several gun counts, and receiving stolen property" referring to the stolen pistol used in the shooting.
"[75] Writing in the Journal of Strategic Security, Martin J. Gallagher, describes this crime and Archer's assertion of motivation as one of a series of "known lone wolf terrorist attacks in 2016."
Gallagher, a British police official charged with the investigation of and response to serious crime national crisis events, discusses the "wave" of which this shooting is part as "a tsunami of attacks perpetrated by individuals" who fit the definition of lone wolf terrorist offered by Michael Becker in his 2014 paper, Explaining Lone Wolf Target Selection in the United States.
[76] Gallagher asserts that "there must be an unequivocal acceptance that mental health is a factor in lone wolf terrorism, and that the actions of those who are ill need to be seen as those of a terrorist when appropriate.
[76] The Wall Street Journal placed this shooting in the context of a series of ISIS-inspired lone wolf incidents in the United States, including the 2015 San Bernardino attack, pointing out that some 60 individuals were arrested in 2015 in the United States charged with giving support to ISIS; the Journal quoted Michael Nacht, a former official with the U.S. Defense Department, now a Professor at the University of California, Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy, who stated that calling on Muslims worldwide to attack non-Muslims is "a very effective ISIS strategy.
[37] Governor Tom Wolf said in a statement, "This alleged intentional act of violence against an officer seeking to help a fellow citizen is horrifying and has no place in Pennsylvania.