Glendale police shoot and kill suspect during midnight confrontation

PHOENIX – Police in Glendale shot and killed a man during an early Wednesday confrontation that they said included the suspect driving a car into a patrol unit.

The man, identified as 26-year-old Jose Enrique Cortez, had been yelling and screaming and pounding on cars near Maryland and 62nd avenues, a spokesman for the Glendale Police Department said. Neighbors called for help.

When officers reached the site around midnight, they said Cortez got into a vehicle and drove away. On his way past police, Cortez sideswiped a patrol vehicle, where an officer was sitting.

Cortez stayed on 62nd Avenue and made it to Ocotillo Road before abandoning the vehicle, proceeding to yell at an officer and wave his arms around before fleeing on foot.

Officers caught up to him and Cortez allegedly yelled “shoot me” and moved toward an officer in an aggressive manner as a second officer deployed a taser, which was not effective.

Cortez charged at the first officer while blading his left side forward and making furtive movements to the small of his back as if he had a gun in his rear waistband, officers said.

The second officer, perceiving this as an imminent threat, shot Cortez.

Cortez was taken to the hospital where he later died.

No weapon was located, police said.

Cortez had an outstanding felony warrant for a parole violation stemming from a kidnapping charge, police said.

An investigation is ongoing, police said.

It was the seventh shooting of the year involving Glendale police and 45th overall by law enforcement in the Valley, according to KTAR News 92.3 FM research.

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