As reported on Instagram
A federal grand jury has indicted Eric Lewis, 35, of Philadelphia, on five counts arising from the ambush shooting this month that killed Philadelphia Police Officer Shane Seiber and seriously wounded his partner, U.S. Attorney David Metcalf announced at a news conference on Thursday. The indictment charges Lewis with interference with interstate commerce by robbery, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon, theft of a firearm that has moved in interstate commerce, and possession of a stolen firearm and stolen ammunition. Metcalf announced the charges alongside Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel and Eric DeGree, the ATF's special agent in charge in Philadelphia. "No one attacks law enforcement without facing the consequences," Metcalf said.
The indictment alleges that on the night of October 10, Lewis was in possession of a loaded 9mm privately manufactured firearm — a "ghost gun" — and a loaded 12-gauge short-barreled shotgun when he shot Officers Seiber and Rodriguez, and that he then took a Philadelphia Police Department-issued Glock 17 handgun from the wounded Rodriguez. Federal prosecutors allege Lewis had previously been convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year in prison and was not permitted to possess firearms or ammunition. If convicted, he faces a maximum possible sentence of life in prison, with a mandatory minimum term of 10 years. Bethel said the federal charges "represent another important step toward justice for Shane, Hector, and their families."
The shooting happened around 12:50 a.m. on Saturday, October 10, in the 100 block of North 52nd Street in West Philadelphia. Seiber and Rodriguez were responding to a report of a man with a gun and were knocking on the door of a home when, according to investigators, Lewis came up behind them and demanded to know why they were on his porch. A brief struggle followed as the officers moved to check whether he was armed, and Lewis opened fire. Seiber, shot three times, died hours later at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Rodriguez, 33, a father of five with nine years on the force, was shot 12 times and remains hospitalized in stable condition. Prosecutors say Lewis then fired at the officers who rushed to the scene — nine other officers came under fire — before he was arrested after an hour-long standoff, found hiding in a tree behind his home as SWAT officers aimed their weapons at him. Three firearms were recovered.
According to a police report obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Lewis told investigators he shot the officers because they were white. The report says he told a Black female officer at the hospital, "if it was you that responded we would have just had a conversation," and that he said he would not have shot the officers if they were Black. The same report says Lewis also claimed he acted in self-defense, saying, "They had guns, so I had every right to defend myself." The racial-motive claim comes from that police report and has not been independently confirmed in official public statements by prosecutors.
The federal indictment comes on top of a state case in which Lewis was arraigned on 76 charges, including murder, homicide of a law enforcement officer, attempted murder, 10 counts of attempted homicide of a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault, terroristic threats and disarming a law enforcement officer. He is being held without bail, with his next court date scheduled for October 26. Lewis, who has worked for the Philadelphia Water Department since 2024, has a criminal record dating to 2012, including convictions for theft and gun-related offenses that brought probation. He was acquitted in an earlier murder case from 2019; District Attorney Larry Krasner said a judge found that investigation "deeply flawed," citing a falsified tip about an alternate suspect and misconduct by an officer and a detective. At the time of Lewis's arrest, Krasner said nothing in Lewis's background had legally barred him from possessing a firearm, an assertion the federal felon-in-possession charge now disputes as a matter of allegation.
Seiber, 40, served two tours in Iraq with the U.S. Air Force before joining the Philadelphia Police Department in 2016, and served in the department's 22nd and 19th districts. He was the fourth Philadelphia officer killed in the line of duty within three years. He is survived by his wife, Lisa, who was able to be at his side before he died, and their children, Finn, 7, and Emily, 3. At his funeral on Tuesday at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, attended by thousands of officers from across the country, Commissioner Bethel posthumously promoted him to sergeant, and Mayor Cherelle Parker announced an annual public-service internship program in his name. The charges against Lewis, in both the federal indictment and the state case, are allegations; he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.