Local
Philadelphia water worker charged in officer’s killing had prior convictions, court records show
Eric Lewis faces 76 charges in the West Philadelphia shooting that killed Officer Shane Seiber and wounded another officer. Court records document earlier convictions, including for carrying a firearm in public, theft and disorderly conduct.
Eric Lewis, a 35-year-old Philadelphia Water Department employee, was charged with 76 offenses after a shooting just after midnight Saturday on North 52nd Street in West Philadelphia that killed Philadelphia Police Officer Shane Seiber and wounded another officer, according to court documents.
The charges include homicide of a law enforcement officer and murder in Seiber’s death, along with 10 counts of attempted homicide of a law enforcement officer, attempted murder and terroristic threats. Police say Lewis fired at 11 officers. The wounded officer was hospitalized at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and had undergone surgery, according to the information available Sunday.
Court records show Lewis has prior convictions. In a 2012 theft case, charges of theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property were reduced to misdemeanors. He was found guilty and sentenced to up to two years of probation.
A police arrest report says Lewis was arrested in 2013 after a dispute involving his brothers, during which he pulled a gun and fired several shots at one of them. He was later found guilty of several misdemeanors, including carrying a firearm in public, and received five years of probation. Court records also say he was required to undergo a mental health evaluation.
Lewis pleaded guilty in 2018 to disorderly conduct involving a fight and was sentenced to up to 12 months of probation, court records show. He was arrested in 2020 in connection with a 2019 homicide, but two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of that case said he was acquitted and the case was later expunged.
Lewis was arraigned Sunday, Oct. 11, and denied bail. His next court date is scheduled for Oct. 26, 2026.
Seiber, 40, was a 10-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department and an Air Force veteran who served at Dover Air Force Base from 2007 to 2015. He was married and had two children, ages 7 and 3.