A disturbing story from Philadelphia: Police Investigate Whether Jailhouse Islam Could Be Behind Cop Killings.

PHILADELPHIA - The fact that Rasheed Scrugs allegedly announced he was going to kill a cop and then shot Philadelphia Police Officer John Pawlowski with a gun hidden inside his coat pocket has detectives digging deeper on Scrugs.

They’re still gathering evidence and trying to unravel why Friday night’s senseless murder happened, Fox 29’s Dave Schratwieser reported. “Pawlowski didn’t stand a chance,” Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said Monday, as Philadelphia continued to reel over the killing.

A key witness went public Monday with the chilling words he heard the gunman say before the shooting. “If you call the cop, I’ll kill you and kill the cop,” said Manuel Dias, who works in a newsstand at Broad Street and Olney Avenue, repeating what he told detectives. …

Scrugs was shot by Pawlowski’s partner and another officer. He’s now awake and talking, but he refused to be interviewed by homicide detectives. Sources say Scrugs told a hospital staffer he was high on drugs at the time of the shooting and allegedly said, “I can’t believe I shot a cop.” …

Ramsey told Fox 29 News that police are now trying to determine if Scrugs — who also goes by the alias Rasheed Abdulghaffer — may have converted to a radical form of “jailhouse Islam” during his years in prison.

Ironically, Ramsey said he was briefed by FBI agents on Friday about this radical form of Islam. That was just hours before Pawlowski was shot. Ramsey said there’s a growing concern among law enforcement. “This is a radical form where certainly committing crime and killing police officers and so forth is part of it,” Ramsey said.

Police experts and the FBI are now researching whether Scrugs and Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski’ accused killers — Howard Cain and Levon Warner, who are accused of wearing Muslim clothing during that murder — were schooled in jailhouse Islam.

“Since Steve Liczbinski got killed, this issue has really been something that has struck home here in Philadelphia,” Ramsey said.

(Hat tip: formercorpsman.)

UPDATE at 2/18/09 9:10:43 am:

Much more on the rise of jailhouse Islam, at Philadelphia Magazine: The Radicals Among Us.