Bodycam: Phoenix Police Rescue Child, Woman in Armed Standoff

Source Officer.com News

Phoenix police released body camera and drone footage from an officer‑involved shooting earlier this month that followed a domestic disturbance call at an apartment.

Police officers responded just after 6 a.m. after a 9-1-1 caller reported a fight and said they could hear a man yelling and a young child crying, while a woman was believed to be inside the apartment, according to the department’s Critical Incident Briefing. When the first police officer arrived, a young child was seen crying from a second‑story window.

Additional officers made contact with an adult woman in a backyard behind a locked wrought‑iron gate, police said. The woman told officers the man inside had the key, and the child later came downstairs and made contact with police.

Officers then heard the man rack a firearm, prompting them to force open the gate with a pry tool and remove the woman and child to safety, bodycam footage shows. Officers gave verbal commands for the man to drop the gun, but he wouldn't comply.

Police officers repositioned their vehicles to create distance and cover while waiting for additional resources, and one officer deployed a drone to monitor the apartment doorway, police said. Bodycam and drone video shows the man opening the door, pointing a gun at the drone and later shooting it.

While officers evacuated nearby residents and attempted to negotiate with the man by phone, several gunshots were heard from inside the apartment, police said. That is when the officer‑involved shooting occurred.

The department’s Special Assignments Unit later breached a window and deployed additional drones, locating the man upstairs and unresponsive next to two long guns, police said. Officers entered the apartment, and the man was pronounced dead at the scene by the Phoenix Fire Department.

The involved police officer has about three years of service with the department. The shooting remains under criminal investigation by the Arizona Department of Public Safety and will be reviewed by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, while Phoenix police are also conducting an internal administrative review.