On Tuesday, November 29, officers shot a man who they said displayed a gun after a vehicle chase ended in a crash. Four days later, on Saturday, December 3, officers shot another man who was fleeing from them, this one on foot.
On Wednesday, December 13, the department released limited body camera footage from the November 29 shooting. Police said a man died from gunshot wounds; at least one was self-inflicted.
As the year comes to a close, Phoenix officers have killed more people than they did in 2021. Ten people were shot and killed by Phoenix officers in 2022, and at least two more died while in custody, compared with six shooting deaths in 2021, according to data from the Washington Post. Fifty people have been killed by law enforcement officers in Arizona so far this year, the media outlet reported.
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the Phoenix Police Department for its use of deadly force. New Chief Michael Sullivan has promised to improve training for officers on de-escalation and the use of nondeadly weapons, such as pepper balls.
So far, though, shootings have continued on Sullivan's watch.
The department is expected to release body cam footage from the December 3 shooting soon. Generally, Phoenix police release some body-worn camera footage of police shootings or killings two weeks after the incident. The footage typically is highly edited and contains voiceovers from agency spokespeople explaining the events in what the department calls a "critical incident briefing."
Following a police shooting in September — in which officers shot and killed 34-year-old Ali Osman after he threw rocks at them — the agency did not comply with Osman's family's requests to immediately release the full footage. Although the department told Phoenix New Times in October it would release the full footage to anyone who submitted a public records request, it has not provided it to New Times two months after a records request was submitted.
So while edited briefings are likely on their way for the December 3 shooting, full footage and transparency could still be months away.
A police officer shot Enrique Alcarez after a chase ended in a crash in South Phoenix on November 29.
Phoenix Police Department
‘He’s Pulling’
Here's what we know about both shootings so far:On November 29, police said officers shot Enrique Alcarez, a 34-year-old man, when he "displayed a firearm" after leading officers on a vehicle chase in South Phoenix. A woman was in the passenger seat. Police attempted to stop the car after officers said it fit the description of a vehicle involved in an armed robbery earlier that day, although additional details about the possible link to the earlier incident have not been made public.
Body cam footage released this week by the department shows a portion of the pursuit along Southern Avenue. It ends when Alcarez's car crashes and is then hit by the police cruiser. Officers approached the car and ordered the passengers to show their hands. One officer fired shots after a few seconds. "He's pulling," one officer says before shots are fired. At least nine shots are heard in the footage.
On December 1, the department said a preliminary investigation determined that Alcarez was hit by gunfire from the officer but also suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The county's Office of the Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death. The woman in the car with Alcarez was uninjured, police said.
Four days after Alcarez was killed, there was another police shooting.
On December 3, officers in west Phoenix responded to call near 27th Avenue and Thomas Road about a man "threatening people with a knife." As officers arrived, they asked 53-year-old John Torp to drop the knife and fired at him with a sponge round — an alternative to gunfire. Torp fled along 29th Avenue.
As he ran, one or more officers shot him. He survived but was hospitalized with serious injuries before being booked into jail. He was charged with disorderly conduct with a weapon.
Police said that as the man fled, he was heading toward an "occupied vehicle," which prompted the shooting.
"The incident remains the subject of both a criminal and internal investigation. Neither of which is completed," police spokesperson Donna Rossi said in response to questions about the incident.
The two recent shootings add to a grisly tally of police violence this year in the city. So far in 2022, the Phoenix Police Department has released information about 24 "critical incidents," which include seven cases in which people were shot but did not die, two suicides during confrontations with police officers, and two deaths during an arrest.
