Man hospitalized after Phoenix police shooting near 27th Ave., McDowell Road
Phoenix police are investigating a Wednesday morning police shooting in central Phoenix.
Officers responded to a call around 5 a.m. about a man acting "erratic" inside a business in the area of 27th Avenue and McDowell Road, according to Phoenix Police spokeswoman Sgt. Melissa Soliz.
The first officer to arrive at the scene approached the unidentified man and they walked outside the business where the man began to attack the officer, Soliz said. The officer then used his stun gun on the man, Soliz added.
The man continued to fight the officer who lost control of his stun gun with the man still attacking the officer, which led to the police shooting, Soliz explained.
Other officers arrived at the scene and the wounded man was taken to the hospital where he is in "serious but stable" condition, according to Soliz.
Detectives are looking through surveillance video and the officer's body worn camera was activated during the incident, Soliz said.
At least four Phoenix Police shooting deaths in two weeks
This is at least the sixth incident within the last two weeks where a Phoenix police officer fired at someone during a suspected crime. In four of these incidents, a person died by police shooting.
An off-duty Phoenix officer on Saturday at a Walmart Supercenter at 35th and Southern avenues missed when shooting at a man who police said aimed a gun at the officer and a store employee after being suspected of shoplifting.
A 47-year-old man on Feb. 23 was killed by officer gunfire after police said he pulled a gun on them the area near 27th Avenue and Adams Street. On Feb. 24, a 36-year-old man was fatally shot by an officer in the area of Seventh Street and Bell Road during a DUI investigation when the police say a man tried to grab a gun in his truck.
A 42-year-old was shot and killed Monday by police on a shooting call near 43rd Avenue and Encanto Boulevard after he reportedly grabbed a handgun from his waistband. Also on Monday, an officer fatally shot a 40-year-old man who police said was ignoring commands after being found home near 41st Avenue and Alta Vista Road with a knife in each hand, kneeling behind a mother of three who later died from suspected stab wounds.
"We are very aware of how many officer-involved shootings we've had. This is something that — it's concerning. Our officers do respond to calls every day, all day that could potentially end up in officer-involved shootings or violent," Soliz said. "It's important to note that, that a lot of these incidents do end up peaceful or we're able to use less-lethal tools to come to a conclusion to these events."
Phoenix Police Chief Michael Sullivan is taking these police shooting "very seriously," Soliz said.
A six-month analysis by The Arizona Republic revealed police statewide not only shot people more times in the first half of 2021 than they did in the same time span the last two years, but more of those shootings were fatal.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Man hospitalized after police shooting in central Phoenix
