ARIZONA NEWS

New details released about related fatal shootings, including 1 involving Phoenix Police

Oct 15, 2024, 11:19 AM | Updated: 12:21 pm

fatal shootings west valley phoenix police...

Two people were killed in related shootings, including one involving Phoenix Police, on Oct. 13, 2024. (Facebook Photo/Phoenix Police Department)

(Facebook Photo/Phoenix Police Department)

PHOENIX – Authorities released new details on Tuesday about a pair of related fatal shootings in the West Valley over the weekend, including one involving Phoenix Police.

The investigation into Sunday’s events covered two scenes: one near 49th Avenue and Thunderbird Road in Phoenix and the other at 99th Avenue and Thunderbird Boulevard in Sun City.

Evidence was recovered at the second scene connecting both fatal shootings, according to the Phoenix Police Department.

The victim at the Phoenix location, where the first of the two fatal shootings occurred, has been identified as 45-year-old Johnny Grammatico. And the man who died in a shooting involving police in Sun City was identified as 28-year-old Alberto Espinoza.

What have investigators learned about fatal shootings in West Valley?

Police said Tuesday that video surveillance showed a person getting out of a silver sedan at the first location and approaching a U-Haul occupied by Grammatico.

The man returned to his vehicle and left the area but remained nearby for over an hour, until officers responded to a shooting call around 8 a.m.

In the initial media advisory, police said witnesses directed officers to a car that drove away and headed west on Thunderbird Road after they tried to stop it.

Police pursued the vehicle until it stopped in the drive-thru of a business at the Sun City location, about 6 miles away.

“Officers pulled their patrol vehicle behind the man and began giving commands. Then the man retrieved a firearm from his person and pointed it at both officers, resulting in one of the officers firing his duty weapon and the man shooting himself,” Sgt. Mayra Reeson said in a media advisory released Sunday evening.

Espinoza died after being taken to a hospital. Police haven’t yet determined whether the fatal gunshots were self-inflicted or from the officer’s weapon.

Grammatico, meanwhile, was pronounced dead at the scene of the initial shooting.

Police said Tuesday that at least one item found at the scene in Sun City is tied to Grammatico.

“Investigators are working to establish further ties between the related investigations,” Reeson said in the update.

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New details released about related fatal shootings, including 1 involving Phoenix Police