Weekend wrap: Here are the biggest Arizona news stories from Feb. 27-March 1

A teenager has died and another was hospitalized after a shooting in south Phoenix on Saturday morning.

Phoenix Police responded to the reported shooting at an apartment near 19th Avenue and Roeser Road, just after 2 a.m., authorities said.

Upon arrival, officers found a male teenager who had been shot, according to the Phoenix Police Department. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died due to his injuries.

A second male teenager who had been shot went to the hospital on his own with non-life-threatening injuries.

Group of unlikely heroes honored for saving 2-year-old Avondale girl from kidnapping

The Avondale Police Department awarded a QuikTrip security guard and a team of movers for their swift action in helping rescue an abducted toddler over the weekend.

The rescue took place on Sunday, Feb. 22. Skyler Emmons, a security guard at the QuikTrip on 27th Avenue and Thomas Road in Phoenix, noticed something was amiss when he saw a little girl who looked exactly like Kehlani Rodgers, the 2‑year‑old featured in an Amber Alert issued on Saturday.

“The picture, it just kind of was in the back of my mind, and seeing her in the store, it just kind of clicked like a puzzle piece,” Emmons told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Thursday during the award ceremony.

Kehlani was last been seen near 118th and Edgemont avenues on Friday, Feb. 20, around 11:30 p.m. Her parents discovered she was missing around 5 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21. Rodgers’ parents contacted police after about three hours of unsuccessful searching.

“I was just swiping left and right, left and right through my photos — and same hairline, same braids that she wore — the perfect description that the Amber Alert had described,” Emmons said.

Arizona wildlife officials warn that rising temperatures could rouse rattlesnakes

Arizona wildlife officials are urging people to stay alert for potential rattlesnake encounters as temperatures begin to rise throughout the state.

Rattlesnakes are most active from March to October, and Arizona is home to 13 different types of rattlesnakes, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD).

Among the 13 types, these include the Western diamondback, sidewinder, Mojave and black-tailed rattlesnakes.

AZGFD says it’s most common to see the snakes during the day, and that they tend to move around more at night, especially during the spring.

State, local leaders react after US, Israel launch a major attack on Iran

State and local leaders reacted Saturday after the United States and Israel launched a major attack on Iran.

U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari (Democrat), a daughter of Iranian immigrants who fled Iran, released her own statement, writing, “I have no sympathy for regime officials or the military apparatus that carries out these atrocities.

“I know personally what its violence means. Members of our family and friends were brutalized and murdered by the Islamic Republic. I carry that history with me every day.”

U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D) went after President Donald Trump online, calling out what he deemed as hypocrisy in a series of posts on X, while also decrying war.

Arizona Sen. Warren Peterson (Republican) went back at Gallego and demanded freedom for Iran in a series of posts writing, “Time to stand with freedom, not oppressors.”