Officer Shane Seiber, who was fatally shot while responding to a call in West Philadelphia early Saturday, was a husband and father of two young children, ages 7 and 3, and a 10-year-veteran of the department.
Seiber, 40, died from his injuries at Penn Presbyterian Hospital on Saturday morning, according to Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel.
About 12:20 a.m. Saturday, police were called to reports of a man with a gun in the 100 block of North 52nd Street. When officers arrived, they were confronted with “significant gunfire,” officials said.
Seiber was shot three times, Bethel said. Another officer, a 33-year-old father of five, was struck 12 times but is in stable condition.
“He fought valiantly, but he lost his life today,” Bethel said. Seiber’s wife and family were at his side before he died, the commissioner said.
In a Facebook post, a police academy classmate — who asked not to be identified out of respect for Seiber’s family — said he had a “beautiful soul.” The classmate said they “learned alongside and watched [each other] embark on a journey of service and sacrifice.”
“Life is so incredibly fragile. In the blink of an eye, everything can change,” the post said. “Tomorrow is never promised, and moments like these remind us just how precious every breath and every embrace truly are.”
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker heralded Seiber’s decision to become a police officer as “noble and courageous and valued.”
“A wife is now without her husband [and] two babies are without their father,” Parker said at a news conference. “Family, friends and colleagues … are feeling a deep-rooted sense of loss.”