One charged in Philadelphia cop’s slaying

updated 1:40 p.m. ET May 4, 2008

PHILADELPHIA - One suspect was charged and a second was being sought Sunday in the killing of a police officer who was shot with an assault rifle while responding to a bank robbery, police said.

Police Lt. Mel Williams declined to release the name of the suspect, who was charged with homicide. A second man, Eric Floyd, 33, is also wanted on a homicide charge, Williams said. A third suspect was fatally shot by police.

Sgt. Steven Liczbinski, a 12-year veteran, was responding to the robbery of a bank inside a grocery store around 11:30 a.m. Saturday. The suspects fled, and opened fire after Liczbinski confronted them a short distance away, authorities said.

About a dozen blue-shirted officers, some wearing white motorcycle helmets, lined both sides of a black hearse and saluted as the married father of three's body, draped with an American flag, was put inside at the hospital Saturday.

The police motorcycles, some bearing black- and blue-striped flags, then escorted the hearse away.

Mayor Michael Nutter on Saturday declared a 30-day period of mourning for Liczbinski and requested that all flags in the city be lowered to half-staff for that period.

Liczbinski's killing comes only a few days after Ramsey announced a major reorganization of the police department's command structure and the addition of nearly 250 officers on street patrols as part of a strategy to reduce crime.

The shooting came about six months after the last death of a Philadelphia officer in the line of duty. Officer Chuck Cassidy, 54, also a father of three, was killed during the botched robbery of a doughnut shop on Oct. 31.

Nearly two years ago, in May 2006, Officer Gary Skerski was fatally shot in the neck when a man robbing a bar fired a shotgun out the back door.

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