Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Deploys National Guard After Four Days of Riots Ravage Philadelphia

The Pennsylvania National Guard arrived on the streets of Philadelphia Friday after four nights of protests, riots, and looting. Governor Tom Wolf (D) promised to mobilize hundreds of troops on October 27.

Fox 29’s Steve Keeley reported that members of the Pennsylvania National Guard arrived on the streets of Philadelphia late Friday morning. The Guardsmen are being deployed to help state and local law enforcement officers maintain peace after protests, riots, and looting broke out Monday night. The violence on the streets of Philadelphia following the police shooting of Walter Wallace, Jr, after he chased them with a knife.

After the first night turned violent, Governor Wolf promised to send in the state’s National Guard to help keep the peace, Breitbart News’ Joshua Caplan reported. A statement issued by Lt. Colonel Keith Hickos said:

At the direction of Governor Wolf, and PEMA, the Pennsylvania National Guard is mobilizing several hundred members in support of the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management and assist local agencies in protecting life, property and the right to peacefully assemble and protest. Assisting civil authorities during times of need is one of our core missions in the National Guard and our Citizen Soldiers and Airmen are well-trained and well-prepared to assist our commonwealth and our communities in any way we can. We are able to conduct operations in support of civil authorities to enhance local law enforcement’s ability to provide continued public safety and critical infrastructure security.

However, as city-wide looting of stores and other businesses took place on Tuesday night, the National Guard was nowhere to be found, Breitbart’s Kristina Wong wrote. Throughout the night, looters ransacked stores large and small — almost with impunity.

Between October 26 and 30, Philadelphia police officers made 214 felony or misdemeanor arrests, Keeley tweeted. The charges centered mostly on burglary and assault on police. The nights of chaos left 58 officers injured — one remains hospitalized with a broken leg after being run over by a pickup truck. City officials report a total of 443 looting incidents and 22 ATM explosions.

Former Philadelphia Mayor John Street (D) told CBSN Philly the shooting of Wallace was a “failure of leadership.”

“I think this is a failure of leadership,” former Mayor Street told the reporter. “We take nine months to train someone to be a member of the Philadelphia Police Department. We spend tens of thousands of dollars. It is inexcusable for those police officers to be there without the proper equipment.”

The two officers involved in the shooting were not equipped with or trained in the use of an electronic control weapon (Taser).

“The only person that you can hold responsible is the leadership of the city,” Street stated. “That situation should of never have happened.”

On Friday, city officials and Wallace’s family agreed to the release of police bodycam videos.