Phoenix police officer shoots, kills homicide suspect during carjacking
Aug 30, 2019, 12:23 PM | Updated: 9:55 pm
(Facebook Photo/City of Phoenix Police Department)
PHOENIX – A Phoenix police officer shot and killed a homicide suspect Friday morning during an attempted carjacking, authorities said.
Detectives in unmarked vehicles were conducting surveillance on the unidentified man in west Phoenix around 6:30 a.m. when he realized he was being followed, Sgt. Maggie Cox of the Phoenix Police Department told KTAR News 92.3 FM.
He rammed one of the cars, which left his vehicle disabled near Van Buren Street and 91st Avenue in Tolleson. The suspect then tried to carjack a vehicle, Cox said.
When an officer tried to stop the carjacking, the man pointed a handgun at the officer, Cox said.
“That officer discharged a firearm,” Cox said. “The suspect was transported a local hospital, where he has been pronounced deceased.”
No officers or bystanders were injured during the incident.
The man was a suspect in a homicide that occurred Aug. 17 near Buckeye Road and 35th Avenue, Cox told reporters on the scene.
The investigation is ongoing, she said.
Anybody with information about the case was asked to call Crime Stop at 602-262-6151 or 480-WITNESS (480-948-6377) to remain anonymous.
It was the second shooting this week involving a Phoenix officer and 11th this year.
Anastacio Pasqual Pacheco, 35, was taken into custody Tuesday night after an officer fired through a metal screen door when Pacheco allegedly came to the door holding a rifle and failed to obey commands, police said.
Officers had been responding to a call about a man shooting into the air in the backyard of a residence near 36th Street and McDowell Road.
Pacheco wasn’t hit by a bullet but was treated for metal fragments at the hospital. He dropped the weapon and complied after the shooting, police said.
Phoenix officers were involved in a record 44 shootings in 2018, more than twice the department’s average from 2009 to 2017.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Taylor Kinnerup contributed to this report.