A man who walked free from a murder charge in 2023 after Philadelphia prosecutors failed to present potentially crucial evidence is now accused of killing a police officer.
Eric Lewis, 35, allegedly murdered Shane Seiber, a 10-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department, on Saturday morning after shooting him three times. Seiber’s partner survived after being shot 12 times and is now in stable condition, according to officials.
The city’s District Attorney Larry Krasner said his office would pursue dozens of charges against Lewis.
However, Krasner’s plan to throw the book at the alleged killer comes three years after his office failed to present potentially crucial evidence in the murder case of 32-year-old Christopher Williams.
Lewis, who has a lengthy criminal history, was charged with killing Williams in August 2019 and was potentially facing decades in prison.
On August 31, 2019, Williams was in a Jeep pulling out of his mother’s driveway when he was blocked in by a double-parked Nissan, the victim’s mother, Darlene Brown, told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Brown said her son honked his horn before exchanging words with the people in the vehicle. Lewis then pulled out a gun and opened fire at the Jeep, killing Williams, according to prosecutors.
A source told the Inquirer that Lewis was identified as the gunman by a police officer from the 15th District, who, for reasons unknown, did not testify. He was also identified by one of Williams’ friends who was in the Jeep during the shooting and did take the stand.
Eric Lewis, 35, allegedly murdered Shane Seiber, a 10-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department, on Saturday morning. He was previously charged for the murder of Christopher Williams but was found not guilty in 2023
Philadelphia police officer Shane Seiber (pictured), 40, died after he was hit with gunfire while responding to a report of an armed man on a porch early Saturday morning
Additionally, Krasner’s prosecutors presented a video of the shooter’s Nissan driving in the area before the crime, Brown said.
But prosecutors did not present Lewis’s cell phone location records at trial and it was not clear if they did not even review or obtain them, a source told the Inquirer.
Judge J Scott O’Keefe ruled that prosecutors failed to prove Lewis’s guilt and found him not guilty.
O’Keefe later faulted the investigation and contacted the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Unit following the trial, sources told the outlet.
Williams’ mother told the Inquirer that her son’s case was transferred between at least two prosecutors and said the assistant district attorney was passive during the trial.
She added that the assistant district attorney apologized but did not offer an explanation for Lewis walking free.
Brown said she was devastated by the verdict and that seeing Lewis’s face on the news reopened old wounds.
‘They had him in 2023,’ she said. ‘They freed that murderer, and it took him three years to come back and do it again.’
Lewis’s alleged deadly ambush began shortly after midnight Saturday, when officers were dispatched to the 100 block of North 52nd Street in West Philadelphia following reports of a man standing on a porch with a gun.
Roughly 30 minutes after the initial report, Seiber and his 33-year-old partner reached the residence, only to be repeatedly shot within moments of arriving.
Christopher Williams, 32, died on August 31, 2019, after he was shot in his mother’s driveway
District Attorney Larry Krasner said his office would pursue dozens of charges against Lewis. Krasner was among a wave of progressive prosecutors whose campaigns received financial backing from billionaire George Soros
As additional officers rushed to the scene, Lewis allegedly fled down a nearby alleyway, firing at police before temporarily disappearing from view.
His escape sparked a massive manhunt, with SWAT teams deployed and the surrounding neighborhood placed on lockdown.
He was eventually found hiding in a tree at around 3.30am, having apparently climbed up in an attempt to evade capture.
Police took Lewis into custody and recovered a shotgun and two handguns, including a weapon belonging to one of the officers he had shot.
Seiber and his partner were taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in critical condition and rushed into emergency surgery, but Seiber tragically succumbed to his injuries.
‘Today, police officer Shane Seiber paid the ultimate price while sacrificing his own life to protect and serve our city,’ Mayor Cherelle Parker said during Saturday’s news conference.
‘Because of his noble, and courageous and valiant choice to serve, a 40-year-old servant leader of our Philadelphia village is gone too soon. A wife is now without her husband. Two babies are without their father,’ she added.
‘Their families right now are feeling unspeakable pain but watching this department and those families sticking close together as a village has definitely showed me what the indomitable power of the human spirit is and can mean during times like this.’
Lewis was charged with 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 other related offenses.
Lewis was charged with 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 other related offenses
Seiber had been shot three times. He died at the hospital surrounded by his wife and family, leaving behind a seven-year-old son and three-year-old daughter (all pictured)
Seiber’s partner, a father of five, survived after being shot 12 times and is now in stable condition
Court records reveal Lewis has a criminal history stretching back to 2012. In 2015, he admitted guilt to weapons offenses stemming from an incident two years earlier, including carrying a firearm in public.
He received five years of probation and was ordered to undergo drug and alcohol assessments and a mental health evaluation.
Lewis was arraigned on October 11 and ordered held without bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for October 26.
Krasner was among a wave of progressive prosecutors whose campaigns received financial backing from billionaire George Soros.
His campaign received $1.3 million through Soros-backed political action committees, with the funding accounting for more than 90 percent of his fundraising total in 2017.
He has served as Philadelphia’s district attorney since 2018, overseeing a city that recorded a staggering 562 homicides in 2021.
However, killings have since fallen dramatically, dropping to 222 in 2025, with another 136 recorded so far this year as of October 12, according to Philadelphia Police Department data.
Critics have pointed to his emphasis on declining to prosecute certain types of offenses.
Lewis was charged with 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 other related offenses.
Krasner said he will be held without bail, with a preliminary arraignment and bail hearing expected to take place ‘in the near future.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and the Philadelphia Police Department for comment.
