A predawn shooting near downtown Phoenix left one man dead and another in extremely critical condition early Tuesday, after firefighters responding to a call at a nearby restaurant heard gunfire and discovered the two victims. The shooting happened around 3:35 a.m. near Fourth Avenue and Roosevelt.
Firefighters who were a block away responding to a call at the restaurant heard the shots and rushed to help, according to FOX 10 Phoenix. Crews administered first aid at the scene before both men were taken to local hospitals. Despite those efforts, one man died and the other remained in extremely critical condition, the station reported.
Investigators talked to witnesses in the area who described seeing a white SUV, possibly a Dodge Durango, heading south down a nearby alley around the time of the shooting. No suspect has been named, and the circumstances that led to the gunfire remain unclear.
A Rough Stretch for Phoenix Shootings
Tuesday's shooting adds to a string of gun violence across the Phoenix area in recent days. Just two days earlier, two people were hospitalized after a shooting Sunday morning in west Phoenix, according to azfamily.com. Officers in that case responded to 35th Avenue and Bethany Home Road around 8:15 a.m., and a police helicopter helped track down a fleeing vehicle before officers detained its occupants, the outlet reported.
A May 2025 shooting in south Phoenix left two women shot and taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, per 12news.com.
Downtown Corridor Sees Repeat Violence
The Fourth Avenue and Roosevelt area has seen gun violence before. Months earlier, two people, including a teenage boy, were injured in a shooting near Fifth and Roosevelt streets late Friday night, KTAR News reported. In that incident, police said the suspect had already fled by the time officers arrived around 11:35 p.m., and no other details were immediately available.
No arrests have been announced in Tuesday's shooting, and police have not released the identities of either victim. The investigation remains ongoing as detectives work to determine what led to the gunfire and whether the white SUV witnesses described played any role.
