Last Friday, 13 police officers gathered in the early morning hours outside an off-campus residential building in West Philadelphia. It was the home of several University of Pennsylvania students.
Donning their full tactical gear, including riot helmets, and armed with assault rifles and handguns, the police threatened to break down the door with a battering ram and pointed a gun at a neighbor before storming the residence.
The sound of police coming up the stairs woke the students up. As they stepped out of their rooms, police trained guns on them, according to one student present during the raid who spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity for fear of their personal safety.
Police identified themselves as 12 officers from the University of Pennsylvania Police Department and one from the Philadelphia Police Department, the student said, but refused to provide names, badge numbers, or a warrant….