Once a cop, always a cop

Ronnie Polaneczky has a column in the Philadelphia Daily News about a difficult job at the best of times:

Andrew Ellerbe'S revolver was loaded with blanks. But off-duty Philadelphia detective Mark Flacco didn't know that when he saw the gun's flash and then pulled the trigger of his own weapon, a Glock pistol loaded with real ammo. Ellerbe collapsed and died from Flacco's bullets, just steps outside of Rising Sun Pizza (photo) in Lawndale.
I have three words for Flacco: Thank you, sir. Because the next time that Ellerbe used that gun to terrorize hard-working merchants, he might have used real bullets, like the kind that took the life of Philadelphia Officer Robert Wilson III on 5 March 2015. Those shots, fired by brothers Ramone Williams and Carlton Hipps inside a GameStop in North Philadelphia, tore a hole in Wilson's large family, which includes two now-fatherless little boys.
(I'm supposed to use the word "alleged" to describe Wilson's shooters, by the way, because they're innocent until proven guilty and all that. Then again, their blasting carnage on that snowy afternoon was caught in brutal detail on surveillance video. Good enough for me.)
Wilson was the twelfth officer killed in the line of duty in the last decade. By the grace of God, Flacco did not become the thirteenth.
The twenty-year-veteran did not leave behind weeping kin and reeling colleagues. The city was not riveted to televised footage of his wrenching funeral. His name will not live forever on a plaque marking the site where he lost his life.
Instead, Flacco is alive to hear justified praise of his quick action, when he returned fire during the robbery of Rising Sun Pizza. (Ellerbe's accomplice, who fled the scene, remains at-large.)
"He took action that was very brave, very heroic and he's very, very fortunate that he is alive - very fortunate that he was not injured," said Chief Inspector Scott Small.
Employees at Cassie and Sons Auto Repair, adjacent to the pizza shop, did not want to talk about the shooting. "We want to stay under the radar," said a worker, standing in the very lot where the shooter died. Television news cameras jammed the block, and he looked weary. "We have work to do."
But a passer-by named Kathy ("no last names," she said) was quick to praise the detective. "Good, I'm glad he killed him. This neighborhood is getting over-run with drugs and trouble. I had to get out," said Kathy, who lived in Lawndale for eight years, but left after her car was broken into one too many times. "I had a cute little duplex around the corner. I hated to leave it."
A neighbor named Robin (no last name, either) was astonished when she heard that two punks had attempted to rob Rising Sun Pizza. "They couldn't have been from around here," said Robin, who had gawked at Ellerbe's body, which was lying face-down under a sheet, shortly after the shooting. "Everyone knows that cops are in there all the time."
Despite the shooting, she said she feels safe in Lawndale, where she rents an apartment. Not so Justin Hagerty, who lives with his wife and two young children on nearby Oakley Street, behind a Wawa that bustles nonstop.
"We bought our house here six years ago, and have watched the block go downhill ever since," he said worriedly. "One morning we woke up to US Marshals kicking in the door of my neighbor's house. They took out seven guns and all kinds of stuff. Six families from my block moved out in the last year. It's a shame." He was grateful that Flacco had not been harmed in the shooting. "We've lost too many cops," Hagerty said. He went to high-school with Robert Wilson's sister, and he knew well the family of Officer Chuck Cassidy, who was slain in 2007 on Halloween during a robbery at Dunkin' Donuts in East Oak Lane. "He treated me like a son. When he died, my heart just dropped," he said. As for Ellerbe, he said: "I'm not saying I'm glad he's dead. But he's probably better off, honestly, because if you're pulling guns on people, nothing is going right in your life. It's a shame. I'm glad Flacco is okay. The cops are out here trying to save the streets and protect people. People don't respect that."
But Hagerty does and so do I. So if you're reading this, Detective Flacco, we thank you for your bravery.

Rico says he was gonna be a reserve cop once, back when he lived in Palo Alto, California, but it didn't happen... (Not that Palo Alto has the crime that Philly does, by a long shot.)