On Sunday morning near 20th Street and Southern Avenue in Phoenix, police fatally shot a man armed with a knife after a confrontation at Hermoso Park. According to Sgt. Brian Bower, two South Mountain Precinct officers spotted the man on a bicycle around 1 a.m. on Sunday and attempted to stop him, but he fled. When officers caught up, "The man resisted officers and was seen removing a knife from his possession," leading to the shooting, as reported by FOX 10 Phoenix.
During the incident, one officer fired at the man after giving verbal warnings, hitting him. Phoenix firefighters provided medical aid and took him to the hospital, where he later died. His identity has not been released, and no officers were injured. The Arizona Department of Public Safety is investigating the case, which is standard for officer-involved shootings.
Detectives are investigating a Phoenix police shooting by reviewing officers’ body-worn cameras, interviewing those involved, and checking nearby homes for surveillance footage. Sgt. Bower told AZ Family, "Detectives are going to be speaking with the individual officers, as well as reviewing their body-worn cameras. They’re also checking and canvassing the area for any surveillance cameras on local neighborhood houses to see if they can find out information that led to the interaction itself." He said the officers were on a routine patrol in the park, explaining "They’re proactively looking for elements of crimes." This was the 23rd officer-involved shooting in Maricopa County and the 50th in Arizona this year, and the second in Phoenix in August.
