A convicted drug dealer pleaded guilty Wednesday to shooting a Philadelphia police officer outside a North Philadelphia bar in 2009.
Lawrence Peel, 30, shot Officer Ashley Hoggard in a shoulder outside Franchise Sports Bar & Grille at Broad and Somerset Streets. At least 57 rounds were fired in a series of shootings that erupted after an altercation in the bar.
Peel, of the 3000 block of North Bouvier Street, is scheduled to be sentenced May 12. He faces a maximum of 147 years in state prison.
On June 14, 2009, Hoggard and his partner were responding to a report of a shooting near the bar when Peel fired. The bullet that struck Hoggard is still lodged in his shoulder.
Peel had been charged with attempted murder but was allowed to plead guilty to aggravated assault, assault on a law enforcement officer, and related offenses. He has a lengthy arrest record.
Video inside the bar showed that after Hoggard was shot, a man went to the kitchen area, retrieved a plastic trash bag, and then handed out guns to at least four people. Video from before the shootings showed a man on the dance floor with a gun in his waistband.
The bar has since closed. It was owned by a city firefighter, Eugene Coulter Jr. The Fire Department conducted an investigation and said fire officials had reported finding no evidence that Coulter knew about illegal activity in his bar.
