Phoenix police make arrest in officers’ early morning Sunday shooting
Mar 14, 2022, 6:06 AM | Updated: 12:07 pm
(Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Photos)
PHOENIX – Police in Phoenix said they have arrested the man suspected of shooting one officer and injuring another in an ambush early Sunday.
The Phoenix Police Department said in an email that Devonte Thornton, 28, was to be booked into Maricopa County Jail for attempted homicide.
None of the injuries to the officers were life-threatening, police said. Authorities said they found 18 shell casings at the site.
Thornton is accused of shooting at officers minutes after they tried to pull over a driver, Javon Beasley, 18, for traffic violations near 27th and Maryland avenues around 1 a.m.
Beasley never stopped for authorities.
According to court records obtained by KTAR News 92.3 FM, police said Thornton and Beasley are brothers. Investigators were able to track down the older man at his apartment nearby after they found Beasley and went through his cellphone calls.
Police said phone data showed the two had talked briefly during the attempted traffic stop near an apartment complex.
The officer seated on the passenger side was hit in the wrist by a bullet and hospitalized, while the officer in the driver’s seat was hit by pieces of flying glass.
More detail were to be released later Monday.
Beasley was booked into jail for felony flight.
More details were to be made available Monday, police said.
It was the seventh shooting of the year by Phoenix police and 13th overall by law enforcement in the Valley, according to KTAR News research.