Phoenix police release footage of officers fatally shooting man who they say was raising sword

Angela Cordoba Perez, Arizona Republic
·3 min read

Phoenix police have released footage of the incident where officers shot and killed Aaron Baughman, 40, who they say was moving toward them with a raised sword on Sept. 10.

Residents in the area of 39th Avenue and Cactus Road called 911 and said a man armed with a sword was striking the fence at the Cactus Park Precinct, Sgt. Phil Krysnky, a Phoenix police spokesperson, said in a critical incident briefing video.

In the recording of one of the 911 calls that was made around 5 p.m. a person can be heard saying there was a “guy with a Samurai sword” hitting the fence.

“Well, he’s not really damaging it, but he’s trying to,” the caller said. The caller also described the armed man and said he looks “mentally disturbed.”

Another caller said the man was “hitting the fence and stabbing through the fence” with a “Samurai sword” near the entrance of the precinct parking lot, according to the critical incident briefing video.

Police released an edited video with some additional information about what officers say happened.

911 calls and footage of the Sept. 10 incident where Phoenix Police officers shot and killed Aaron Baughman who they say was moving toward them while raising a sword.
911 calls and footage of the Sept. 10 incident where Phoenix Police officers shot and killed Aaron Baughman who they say was moving toward them while raising a sword.

Since 2019, the Phoenix Police Department has produced videos with summaries of police shootings that include some body-camera footage, 911 calls and a narration of the events that led to the shooting.

Surveillance video from across the street shows a person walking toward a fence and striking it with an object. It is unclear what the object is in this video.

About two minutes later, a patrol arrives, and two officers get out of the vehicle. The person can be seen walking away from the fence and walking towards the officers. Krynsky said the person, later identified as Baughman, was walking toward the officers while raising the sword, although in this video it is unclear if he was raising the sword.

The officers told Baughman to drop the sword and when he didn’t, they shot him, according to Krynsky. The surveillance video shows him falling to the ground.

The body camera video of one of the officers involved — which didn’t have audio because the shooting was captured before audio started recording — shows Baughman walking towards the officers and raising an object that looks like a sword.

Then the officer shoots at Baughman, who then falls to the ground and drops the object.

It is unclear how many times Baughman was shot.

After the shooting, a man pulled up in a vehicle and walked towards Baughman. Officers told the man to stop and detained him. They later determined the man was Baughman’s father.

Krynsky said Baughman was taken a to hospital where he later died.

A photo of a sword was shown in the critical incident briefing video and Krynsky said it was recovered on scene.The officers involved in the shooting, who haven’t been identified, had been assigned to the Cactus Park Precinct for two years, according to the video.

There is an internal and criminal investigation on the police shooting that will be reviewed by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, according to Krynsky.

“Conclusions about whether the actions of the officers are consistent with department policy and the law will not be made until all facts are known and the investigation is complete,” Krynsky said in the critical incident briefing video.

Reach breaking news reporter Angela Cordoba Perez at Angela.CordobaPerez@Gannett.com or on Twitter @AngelaCordobaP.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Footage shows Phoenix police fatally shooting man raising sword