The identities of the officer involved, as well as the armed man killed, have been revealed days after a shooting occurred outside of St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, officials said. The officer-involved shooting occurred on Thursday, July 2, shortly before 10:30 a.m., after police rece ived a report of an “irate male” near St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. Officials said the Officer Azieme Lindsey and another unidentified officer, who were in full uniform and in a marked police car at the time, confronted the man outside the hospital at a bus stop along East Erie Avenue, police said. The man, identified as 32-year-old Joseph Smithers, had been directed away by hospital security on Thursday. Smither had also been asked to leave on Wednesday, July 1, following an incident that happened inside the hospital, police said. As Officer Lindsey left her police car and approached Smithers, he began stepping backwards while simultaneously pulling out a handgun from his waistband, police said. Officer Lindsey then discharged her department-issued firearm several times, striking Smithers multiple times, police said. Smithers’ girlfriend, identified only as a 29-year-old, was standing nearby and grazed by a bullet in the neck, police said. She was treated for her injury at the hospital. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support. Smithers was taken to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 10:44 a.m., police said. During the subsequent investigation, police said they discovered that the department got a call from a relative Smithers who said they were concerned he may be suicidal. The relative said the man had access to weapons. The call appears to have occurred around the same time as the 911 call from the hospital on Thursday, police said. The officer-involved shooting remains under investigation by the Philadelphia Police Department’s Officer-Involved Shooting Investigations Unit, the Internal Affairs Bureau and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, police said. Officer Lindsey has been placed on administrative duty until the investigation is completed, police said. “It’s a tragedy,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said on the day of the shooting. “You don’t know the why behind many of these cases.” A spokesperson for St. Christopher’s Hospital also released a statement on the incident on Thursday, July 1. “We can confirm that a police-involved shooting occurred this morning at a bus stop on Erie Avenue in front of St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children,” the spokesperson wrote. “The individual involved in the shooting never entered the hospital. Our Public Safety Team immediately initiated established safety protocols, including a temporary lockdown of the hospital. The lockdown has since been lifted, and our patients and team members are safe. All entrances are open as we continue to welcome patients. As this is an active law enforcement matter, we are referring all questions regarding the incident to the Philadelphia Police Department.” This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less