Phoenix cops were told danger had passed before mistakenly killing dad

As a crazed man shot randomly into their South Phoenix home on Jan. 26, Christian Diaz Rendon’s wife and children kept calling 911. As they huddled in back rooms to avoid the bullets, multiple emergency dispatchers promised them that police were on their way. But instead of helping, a Phoenix cop only compounded the family’s tragedy.

As police neared the house, family members told dispatchers that Rendon had subdued the shooter. Others, rushing out of the house’s open front door, told the advancing officers the same thing. Despite that warning, five-year veteran officer Jason Valenzuela fired a single shot through the doorway, hitting Rendon as he sat on top of the man who’d fired into his home and struck one of his children. Rendon died at the scene, his living room covered in a pool of blood.

Body-worn camera video of Rendon’s death last month — the first at the hands of a Phoenix police officer in 2026 — was released Monday as part of the Phoenix Police Department’s “critical incident briefing” on the shooting. The briefings are narrated by officers and contain snippets of body-cam and surveillance footage as well as dispatch audio. Phoenix New Times also obtained longer footage and audio in response to a public records request.

The footage and the audio show that as police closed in on the tense situation at Rendon’s home, several people informed them — through dispatchers and to the approaching officers themselves — that the danger had passed. Rendon had disarmed the shooter, identified as Edgar Ledezma Garcia, and wrestled him to the floor. “Over here! They’ve got him on the ground!” one of Rendon’s family members could be heard telling the officers. Valenzuela fired anyway, to the horror of Rendon’s family.

“NO! NO! YOU SHOT THE WRONG ONE, YOU IDIOT!” one of Rendon’s sons could be heard screaming. “YOU SHOT MY DAD!”

On Feb. 6, nearly two weeks after the shooting, Phoenix Police Chief Matt Giordano finally formally acknowledged that Valenzuela killed the wrong person. “Based on what we now know, I am able to share that the man who was fatally shot had disarmed the individual who had fired shots at the home and other family members. He was not the subject of the original call,” Giordano wrote in a statement. The statement did not name Rendon, Garcia or Valenzuela.

“We know this does not lessen the pain felt by those who are grieving,” Giordano concluded. “Our goal is to be transparent and maintain trust as we work through this difficult incident together.”

‘They got him down’

According to audio from 911 calls and doorbell camera video from Rendon’s home, Garcia approached the home a little after 6 p.m. on Jan. 26. Hip-hop music blared from the home as Garcia, driving a gray pickup truck and wearing a sweater, pulled up and began firing a shotgun into the home. Doorbell camera footage shows Garcia wandering aimlessly in front of the house, firing his shotgun seemingly in random directions. He then took out a pistol and fired several times in rapid succession, though the footage doesn’t clearly show in which direction. After a pause, he fired several more shots.

After more meandering, he approached the front door and pistol-whipped the doorbell camera, flipping it upside down. He tried the door, which appeared to be locked. Then he seemingly returned to his car, where he took off his shirt, shouldered his shotgun and made his way around to the back of the house.

During that period, which lasted about five minutes, Phoenix police were being inundated with 911 calls from inside and outside the house. From within the home, frantic callers told dispatchers that a man was firing into the home and had struck a child. They did not know who he was. “Somebody shoot one of my kids,” said one caller, who may have been Rendon. One child told a dispatcher that they worried the shooter was “somebody with ICE.”

Several neighbors also called police. One man told a dispatcher that Garcia had fired 10 to 15 times at the house and was currently reloading. “Please shoot this motherfucker when you’re here,” he said. Another neighbor, a woman, described how Garcia drove past her house, where her children had been playing out front, before he pulled up to Rendon’s house and began blasting. The woman begged police to hurry. The dispatcher told her: “Stop telling me to hurry up. I’m not the one coming.”

“I’m fucking tripping. They’re shooting at my neighbor,” the woman replied. “I know you’re not coming, but God, you could be nicer about this. Jesus.”

Valenzuela and his partner, identified in police records only as Jones, appear to have been the first to arrive. Neighbors hurriedly directed them to the correct house — Garcia had made his way inside. Still on the phone with 911, Rendon’s family members screamed in fear before sharing welcome news: Rendon had disarmed the shooter.

“You guys got him down?” a dispatcher asked.

“Yeah, they got him down,” one of Rendon’s sons said before yelling the same to the officers outside the home.

On a separate 911 call, another of Rendon’s sons offered more detail. “My dad just got him on the floor,” he said. “They’re hitting him now. My dad is hitting him.”

It’s not clear if the dispatchers ever passed that information on to Valenzuela and Jones. But body-cam footage and doorbell footage show several family members pouring out of the front door to excitedly tell the cops that the shooter had been overpowered.

Footage does not show Valenzuela acknowledging that information before pointing his rifle-mounted light into the doorway, where he saw Rendon on top of Garcia and throwing punches. “Show your fucking hands!” Valenzuela yelled. A second later, he fired a single shot.

‘It’s a good shoot’

The 911 audio from after the shooting makes for difficult and infuriating listening. The misery of Rendon’s loved ones — many of whom were in the room when he was shot — is palpable.

“Dad! Dad! Why? Why?” one of Rendon’s sons can be heard yelling on one 911 call. “Why didn’t you guys listen?”

“You killed my FUCKING DAD,” another cries on a separate call.

In footage from Valenzuela’s body cam, Rendon’s wife can be heard yelling: “You guys killed the wrong person! You shot my husband!” It’s unclear if she was yelling at Valenzuela specifically.

After clearing the second floor of the home, Valenzuela and Jones exited the house and walked down the street with a sergeant. Before shutting off their body-cams, they shared a brief exchange about the shooting.

“Dude, I thought he was fucking stabbing him,” Valenzuela said. “Goddammit.”

“Jason, it’s a good shoot, man. It’s a good shoot,” his partner consoled him. “If I had the shot, I would have done the same thing.”

The shooting is being investigated by the Arizona Department of Public Safety and is also the subject of an internal Phoenix police investigation. Phoenix police databases show that Valenzuela has been involved in 11 other use-of-force incidents dating back to 2022, though none involved lethal force and all were found within department policy. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will later determine whether charges against Valenzuela are warranted. The county attorney has not filed charges against a Phoenix police officer as a result of a fatal shooting in several years.

Charges have been filed against Garcia. On Monday, the county attorney’s office announced that Garcia had been indicted on 11 felony charges related to the incident. One of those is felony murder, “a law that allows a defendant to be charged with first degree murder if a death occurs during the commission of a dangerous felony,” the county attorney’s office said in a statement.

That means that though a Phoenix police officer fired the shot that killed Christian Diaz Rendon, county prosecutors intend to hold Garcia responsible for it. Whether Valenzuela eventually shoulders any of the blame remains to be seen.