Philadelphia Police Capt. James Clark did not mince words Wednesday when he spoke of Daniel Giddings.

Giddings is the 27-year-old lifelong criminal who shot and killed Highway Patrol Officer Patrick McDonald.

“He was just evil,” Clark said.

Hard to argue with him.

Clark offered a chilling review of the final moments of Officer McDonald’s life.

Now the city is once again reeling in the loss of still another police officer, the fourth killed in the line of duty in less than a year.

But there’s something else simmering in the city, and in fact the entire region.

There is outrage at how a person with Giddings’ background could be out on the street, let alone in a position to “execute” a police officer.

For some as yet unexplained reason, Giddings, whose life of crime started when he was 10, and who had amassed a long list of transgressions even while he was imprisoned, was deemed eligible for parole.

Once back on the street, it did not take long for him to revert to his old ways. Giddings promptly returned to his life of crime. Ironically, he was involved in a confrontation with police just a week before his fatal encounter with McDonald.

It was during that earlier tussle that Giddings made a prophetic, ugly promise. He vowed he would not go back to prison and that he’d take down any police officer who got in his way.

About a week later, it was McDonald who found himself in just that position.

Clark offered a chilling version of how Giddings opened fire on McDonald during a foot chase after the initial car stop. But it was what happened after McDonald was initially wounded that stops your heart.

Instead of fleeing, Giddings instead “stood over him and executed him, shooting him several times,” according to Clark.

Mayor Michael Nutter yesterday spoke for a lot of people when he said he was “outraged” that Giddings was back on the street.

He’s not alone.