Phoenix police officers fatally shoot two armed men in unrelated incidents

PHOENIX — A police officer fatally shot an armed man at an east Phoenix mobile home park late Sunday, authorities said.

A few hours later, in an unrelated incident, another armed suspect was killed by police in the city.

In the first incident, which occurred shortly before midnight, an officer taking part in street-racing enforcement in the area of 43rd Avenue and Camelback Road observed a Jeep Grand Cherokee being driven erratically in a Home Depot parking lot, according to information released by the Phoenix Police Department on Monday morning.

“Officers tried to contact him and he took off,” Sgt. Tommy Thompson told KTAR News 92.3 FM. “And what happens when you run from officers like that, we refer to it as felony flight.”

A Phoenix Police Air Unit followed the suspect, who stopped and got out at a mobile home park near 43rd Avenue and Roosevelt Street.

Another officer who had been following the suspect engaged the man, who got back in the Jeep and rammed the officer’s unmarked vehicle. After driving a short distance, he stopped and fled on foot in the mobile home park.

The Air Unit followed him and saw he was carrying a handgun. He ignored commands to drop the gun.

When approached by two officers, he pointed the weapon at them. One officer shot and hit the man, who died at the scene.

The suspect was identified Tuesday as 25-year-old Fabian Ortiz Adame. The officer, a 37-year-old man with 13 years on the force, wasn’t named.

“As in all officer-involved shootings, this will be investigated by the Phoenix Police Department Homicide Unit, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office as well as the Professional Standards Unit of the Phoenix Police Department,” Thompson said.

A few hours later, another armed man was fatally shot by officers in an unrelated incident near 39th Avenue and Bell Road, according to a Phoenix Police Department media advisory.

Two officers responding to a call of shots being fired encountered 20-year-old Bryce Schenkenberg in a front yard just before 2 a.m. Monday.

Schenkenberg immediately began shooting, and the officers took cover behind a parked SUV and fired back, killing him.

The officers, a 21-year-old male with one year of service and a 25-year-old female with seven months’ service, were uninjured.

Two adult victims, a man and a woman, inside the house suffered gunshot injuries that weren’t life-threatening. The suspect and victim knew each other.

Three firearms — a handgun, a shotgun and an AR-15 — were found at the scene

There now have been a record 37 officer-involved shootings in Phoenix this year.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Nailea Leon contributed to this report.

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