Woman fatally shot in Phoenix after domestic dispute

Phoenix police said a woman died Friday morning after a shooting believed to be connected to a domestic dispute near 17th and Missouri avenues.

Just after midnight, Phoenix police said they were called to a hospital after a woman was brought there with a gunshot wound. The woman later died at the hospital.

Police said the incident started at the Missouri Crossing apartment complex on the northwest corner of 17th and Missouri avenues.

Police served a search warrant on Friday afternoon at the apartment complex and closed Missouri Avenue between 17th and 18th avenues.

As of Friday afternoon, there was no estimated time for reopening, according to officers at the scene.

A neighbor said the victim and a male resident in the same apartment unit engaged in a verbal and physical altercation the night of the victim's death — a regular occurrence at the residence, according to the neighbor.

The neighbor said the male resident was accompanied by another woman who forced the victim into a vehicle before driving away.

"He was hitting her, and they were screaming really loud that we need to leave," said the neighbor.

The neighbor said police told them there were gunshots in the area of 13th Avenue and Mohave Street, nearly 7 miles south of the apartment complex, and that the victim was found there before being taken to the hospital.

Police showed the neighbor images of the male resident to confirm his identity as a potential suspect.

Phoenix police have not confirmed where the actual shooting took place.

The neighbor said they believed the suspect was a felon, and that he and the victim were living in the apartment under someone else's name.

The neighbor added that the suspect had threatened them after they attempted to intervene in the regular domestic disputes that were common between the suspect and the victim.

The neighbor said that the victim had recently given birth to a premature baby who was still in the hospital.

In the same complex, only a few apartment units away from the scene of the original incident was the victim's cousin, Jodee Lee.

Lee said he learned of the death of his cousin through a phone call from family, only to find police conducting an active investigation on his apartment complex.

Lee said his cousin was "nice and kind-hearted," and that the two maintained irregular contact as neighbors.

Neighbors near the apartment complex spoke of frequent shootings in the area that made them feel unsafe.

"If they (apartment management) don't care about resident safety, then it's time to go," said a resident of the Missouri Crossing apartments.

A neighbor south of Missouri Avenue said a shooting had occurred on nearly every major holiday, with the most recent occurring on Thanksgiving, Nov. 23.

Phoenix homicide detectives were still investigating the death and had not released the name of the victim or any suspects.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Shooting leaves woman dead after midtown Phoenix domestic dispute