Bodycam footage shows what led up to Phoenix police officer shooting, killing the wrong man

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Police Department released bodycam footage that shows the moments leading up to one of its officers shooting and killing the wrong man last month.

Phoenix Police Chief Matt Giordano confirmed Friday, eleven days after the Jan. 26 incident, that one of his officers wrongly killed 36-year-old Christian Diaz Rendon.

Warning: The video posted in the link by the Phoenix Police Department contains graphic images. Viewer discretion is advised. 

The Critical Incident Briefing Video released Monday contains multiple 911 calls and bodycam footage from two different officers, the one who fatally shot Rendon and an officer who was behind him.

In addition, the video has surveillance footage from the residence that shows Rendon disarming the subject of the call that police responded for.

It was also revealed in the video that the officer involved in the shooting, identified in an updated media advisory as Jason Valenzuela, has worked for the department for five years and is assigned to the Maryvale Estrella Mountain Precinct.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety is conducting a criminal investigation into the incident. In a statement, Giordano said that Phoenix police would conduct an internal administrative investigation after DPS’ is complete.

What led up to police killing the wrong man in Phoenix?

Officers responded to a shooting call at a house near 73rd Drive and Lower Buckeye Road around 6:20 p.m. on the day Rendon was killed.

The initial media advisory from police said two men were shot during the incident, one of whom died, and another was detained and hospitalized with injuries unrelated to gunfire. The advisory didn’t specify who fired any of the shots.

A Jan. 28 update identified Rendon as the person who died, but police didn’t say who fired the shot or shots that killed him until Giordano’s statement on Friday.

“They shot the wrong guy,” Jarvis Gonzalez, who lives in the home, told 12News reporters after the shooting. “They shot my stepdad in the face.”

Gonzalez has since called for Officer Valenzuela to lose his badge and said he should serve time in prison.

Media reports also said the person injured by gunfire was shot in the leg before police arrived.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Kevin Stone contributed to this report. 

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