A Pennsylvania man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after shooting six Philadelphia police officers who attempted to arrest him on a narcotics warrant.
Maurice Hill, 41, was sentenced Thursday to 120 to 240 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of several charges in May, including three counts of attempted murder and nine counts of aggravated assault and assault on a law enforcement officer.
Hill fired over 100 rounds at officers who were pinned down and unable to flee to safety.
“I was being shot at and thought I was going to die,” an officer told local Fox affiliate WTXF.
Fortunately, all of the officers who were shot survived and were discharged from the hospital shortly after arriving.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who was chastised by President Donald Trump’s appointed U.S. Attorney for the district, said the sentence “concludes one of the worst moments in the history of Philadelphia criminal justice.”
“Maurice Hill’s relentless barrage of bullets terrified an entire community and almost killed several people, including police officers and neighborhood residents. “We are pleased that justice was served in this case and that no lives were lost,” he said in a statement.
When cops attempted to serve a warrant for his arrest in August 2019, he opened fire. He barricaded himself in the house for several hours before finally surrendering. Hill claimed he was shooting for self-defense.
“We were arguing about what was going through his mind and what he knew at the time. We weren’t debating his firing. “We were debating why he fired,” defense attorney Ellis Palividas told local ABC affiliate WPVI.
