A man is dead after a harrowing gun struggle with officers during his arrest in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
The 31-year-old man, identified by family as Tyrease Carlyle, was confronted by police as they responded to a report of a car theft in progress along N. Darien Street at Allegheny Avenue at 5:15 p.m., police said.
Officers found the Carlyle in the driver's seat of a red sedan and a woman who said he was trying to steal it.
As he was being placed in handcuffs, police said Carlyle grabbed the officer's gun. A struggle between the officer and man ensued as he tried to unlatch the handgun from its holster on the officer's belt, police said.
Failing to get the first officer's gun, Carlyle then tried to grab the gun of a second officer who joined the struggle, police said.
Police eventually broke free from Carlyle and three officers opened fire on him. He suffered multiple gunshot wounds to his left side, police said.
Carlyle was taken to Temple University Hospital but later died from his injuries. It wasn't clear if he was armed.
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No officers were hurt.
Monica Carlyle, Tyrease's sister, told NBC10 her brother suffered from mental illness and was disabled, using a walker to get around.
"The cops said it one time for him to let go and he didn't let go and then they, all three cops, just started shooting at him," she said.
The sister said their aunt owned the car and was the person who called police.
"She called the police for help, not for them to harm him, but to help her," Monica Carlyle said. "Because when you got mental issues, you need someone to talk that's trained to help you."
This is the second police-involved shooting in the city this week. A man was shot Monday in the city's Fairhill section after he failed to drop a weapon following an alleged shooting. He survived.
