Philly police sought to criminally charge tenant shot during eviction

Hours after a deputy landlord-tenant officer shot Angel Davis in the head during an attempted eviction lockout, Philadelphia Police submitted a warrant to have her charged with aggravated assault, according to law enforcement officials.

The request for Davis’ arrest as she was hospitalized last Wednesday was based on an allegation that she was armed with a knife and was threatening the landlord-tenant officer when he fired his gun.

But that account was contested by another witness to the shooting, and, according to law enforcement officials not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation, the District Attorney’s Office declined to approve the charges due to a lack of evidence.

Police now appear to be seeking more evidence against Davis, 35, to potentially refile criminal charges.

“It’s still under investigation,” said Sgt. Eric Gripp, a police spokesperson.

Jane Roh, a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office, declined to comment.

Meanwhile, a crowd of over 100 protesters gathered outside the Center City law offices of the city’s landlord-tenant officer on Wednesday afternoon to denounce the shooting.

Brandishing signs with messages like “People over Profit,” housing advocates stood on Broad Street alongside Davis’ mother, Rosalinde Hobson, who had visited her daughter in the hospital hours before.

Hobson said she hadn’t heard about police trying to charge her daughter, but said that any charges would be “trumped up” and fought by the family.

“They better leave Angel Davis alone,” said Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture, a longtime West Philly housing advocate. “Period.”

Hobson said her daughter’s recovery was up and down, with Davis suffering head pain and struggling to walk.

Davis was able to speak, however — and record an audio message that protesters played through a loud speaker.

“I’m right there with ya’ll in spirit even though I can’t be with ya’ll physically,” Davis said. “I wish it didn’t take a tragedy to bring about justice, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Many details of the incident inside the Girard Court Apartments remain murky. The identity of the deputy has not been released, and police have not publicly elaborated on the role of the knife found at the scene.

Unlike other jurisdictions, Philadelphia empowers a private attorney, known as a landlord-tenant officer, to enforce most eviction orders. The currently appointed attorney, Marisa Shuter, in turn deputizes private security contractors who are paid to deliver court writs and perform lockouts.

The deputy landlord-tenant officer did not give police a formal statement. Davis’ ex-husband, who was there as the officer tried to evict the two of them for owing $8,000 in rent, has said Davis was not attacking the officer.

In declining to charge Davis, the DA’s office noted that police had not submitted evidence from the landlord-tenant officer’s body camera, according to a law enforcement official.

Shuter, through her attorney, has repeatedly refused to publicly comment.

Meanwhile, a growing cohort of Philadelphia officials are questioning the city’s use of privatized eviction enforcement, citing a “lack of transparency and oversight” of Shuter’s office — which is not required to make public its guidelines, training protocols, or names of staff.

The shooting drew the ire of the region’s Democratic state senators, who drafted legislation that would return responsibility for evictions to the sheriff’s department.

And some Philadelphia council members are zeroing in on role of the city’s landlord-tenant officer. Shuter has previously attracted controversy over accusations of nepotism and conflicts of interest.

At-large Councilmember Kendra Brooks and 3rd District Councilmember Jamie Gauthier said an upcoming public hearing will probe the practices of Shuter’s office, which contracts with armed, private security personnel to enforce tenant lockouts — sometimes with little notice — while collecting millions in fees from landlords.

“Last week’s tragedy is the result of an unaccountable, for-profit system that traumatizes and exploits renters across the city,” Brooks said in a statement.

During Council budget hearings for the city’s court system, outgoing Council President Darrell Clarke expressed surprise that security contractors — and not sworn law enforcement — were allowed to carry out evictions at all.

“I’ve been in government for a thousand years and I always thought sheriff’s deputies did evictions. That’s bizarre … that’s archaic,” he said.

Richard McSorely, a court administrator representing the city’s First Judicial District, said, “These are the exact same questions Judge Dugan is asking the landlord tenant officer,” he said. “He has the same concerns.”

Municipal Court President Judge Patrick Dugan appoints the landlord-tenant officer, though Shuter was appointed by Dugan’s predecessor.

Dugan did not respond to a request for comment.

Questions surrounding her office are hardly new.

Ethics hearings were authorized in 2020, when attention was drawn to Shuter’s marriage to Municipal Court Judge David Shuter — an official whose oversight included issuing eviction writs his wife enforced. Shuter is also the daughter of former president judge Alan Silberstein.

In the meantime, housing advocates and Davis’ mother are pushing for reform.

Hobson remembers waiting on pins and needles, relieved to finally hear her daughter’s familiar voice even as she strained to talk to her mother.

“I was crying,” said Hobson, who lives in Virginia. “God calmed me down and let me know that everything was going to be all right.”

Hobson said her daughter was supposed to be evicted in April and had requested an extension, but the officer arrived early and without warning.

The building’s owner, rental giant Odin Properties, previously declined to comment.

“The judge should make the final decision, not the landlord paying enforcement to come in and evict you — or shoot you,” Hobson said. “The laws need to be changed.”

Correction: This story incorrectly stated the role of David Shuter. He is a municipal court judge.