Police investigating possible triple homicide in northwest Phoenix
Feb 21, 2018, 5:59 PM | Updated: Feb 22, 2018, 3:39 pm
PHOENIX — Officers are investigating a potential triple homicide that was uncovered after an officer-involved shooting in northwest Phoenix on Wednesday.
Sgt. Alan Pfohl with the Phoenix Police Department said there have been three confirmed victims, but that the victims are believed to be shot by the suspect.
All of the victims are described as adult males. Two of them were later identified as 21-year-old Francisco Javier Galindo and 26-year-old Vidal Hernandez-Gutierrez. The other was only identified as a 20- to 30-year-old male.
The suspect died of his injuries on Thursday morning, Pfohl said. He was later identified as 39-year-old Edward Hallinan.
The officer-involved shooting took place in the area of 35th Avenue and Osborn Road, but police said there was more than one scene that they were investigating.
Pfohl said the situation started as a domestic violence call around 4 p.m., when a woman called police and said she was in a fight with her husband.
The husband allegedly pulled a gun on her so she left and went to a neighbor’s house, he added. Police then responded and engaged the man while he was in his truck.
The man then pulled a handgun on the officer. At that point an officer shot him and he went down. Pfohl said the suspect was down for about 40 minutes before getting up again and eventually going back down.
The suspect died Thursday morning. It was not clear who shot the suspect and whether the injury was at the hands of an officer or self-inflicted.
Witnesses then told police that multiple shots were fired in the area.
Police investigated the area and found the three adult male victims near the residence. Pfohl said the victims were presumably shot by the suspect after officers were called by the woman.
Pfohl said the woman and child are safe.
KTAR News’ Griselda Zetino contributed to this report.