Tempe Police show unredacted footage of shooting that left teen dead

PHOENIX — Tempe Police hosted a media-only viewing Wednesday of unredacted body camera footage from the officer-involved shooting that left a 14-year-old suspect dead earlier this month.

Police said this was an attempt to remain open and transparent with both the media and the public after questions began to arise about the toy airsoft gun that prompted the Jan. 15 shooting.

Authorities showed video from three different officers’ perspectives. The first video shown was from Officer Joseph Jaen, the officer who shot and killed the suspect. The other two videos shown were from Officers Anna Cano and David Lewis, who were the first two officers on the scene.

These videos began from the moment the three officers arrived at the scene until they either left or the suspect’s body was transported to the hospital.

The boy was seen on the video being shot about a minute after Jaen saw him burglarizing a car parked in an alley near home off 48th Street between Southern Avenue and Baseline Road. Jaen fired two shots. One bullet hit the alley wall and the other hit the boy in the right shoulder while he was running away.

It wasn’t until Cano’s video that the gun was first visible in the footage. She approached the suspect about five minutes after he was shot. The suspect was lying face down between the residential road and sidewalk after being shot in his shoulder.

As Cano approached the boy, the toy gun was seen tucked under the boy’s right shoulder with the orange tip of the gun pointing out under his armpit.

Just after she approached him, Cano said to the other officers, “He’s dead but we’ve still got to try.” She then said with more urgency, “We’ve got to start CPR.” Then Lewis approached the suspect, put on gloves and handcuffed the unmoving body.

It wasn’t until nearly seven minutes after the suspect was shot that officers began performing life-saving measures.

In the time before fire crews enter the scene, Cano said, “Give him help if he needs help,” and “tell fire to step it up.”

Officers on the scene applied continuous chest compressions for nearly two minutes while waiting for fire crews to arrive.

Fire crews then took over and transported the suspect to the hospital where he was later declared dead.

Tempe Police had not yet shown the suspect’s parents these videos at the point that they had shown the media. Lt. Mike Hayes of Tempe Police said they would offer the parents the chance to watch the unredacted video later Wednesday.

Hayes later confirmed police would not release the unredacted footage to the public and that a redacted version would only be available after the investigation is closed and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office finished their review of the incident.

 

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