From Robert Harkins' police statement on the night of the shooting:
"While traveling east on Locust Street from Broad Street, I was approaching 13th Street when I observed a police car with its dome lights on. And then I looked over and observed a police officer grab a guy, the guy then spun around and the officer went to the ground. He had his hands on the ground and then rolled over. At this time, the male who was standing over the officer pointed a gun at the officer and fired one shot and then he fired a second shot. At this time, the officer moved a little and then went flat on the ground. I heard a total of three shots and saw what appeared to be three flashes from the gun of the man standing over the officer. When I saw the officer go flat to the ground I drove down the street and at 12th and Locust streets, I saw a police wagon which was traveling south on 12th Street and I told them that a cop got shot back there and one of the officers, the passenger, said 'A cop,' and I said 'Yes, a cop.' At this the wagon turned onto Locust Street and then after that there where (sic) a lot of cops that came. It was only a minute from the time the officer got shot until the first cop came."From his statement of Dec. 17, 1981:
"[The shooter] seemed a little taller than the officer, heavier than the officer and he may have got a beard."Attorneys for Abu-Jamal note their client was shorter and not as heavy as Faulkner. They also point out that Harkins failed to identify Abu-Jamal as the shooter when shown a series of photographs during the investigation.
The prosecution never called Harkins as a witness at the 1982 trial. Harkins informed a defense investigator in January 1994 that a detective had "told (him) not to talk to anyone from the defense."
Mentions in the Defense Motion: