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The man fatally shot by Phoenix police officers early yesterday morning has been identified as 26-year-old Ernesto Lopez. And Lopez, it appears, left two women in charge of the getaway car as he attempted (and failed morbidly) to rob a 7-11 convenience store.
Those women, Lopez’s girlfriend, 26-year-old Jennathea Nozie, and 33-year-old Antoinette Manzanares, have since been charged with first-degree murder.
According to the Phoenix Police Department, officers responded to a robbery in progress at the convenience store near 48th Street and McDowell Road about 2 a.m. yesterday.
When officers arrived on the scene, Lopez ran out of the store and fired at the cops, which proved to be a fatal mistake.
The officers returned fire as Lopez fled in a 1998 Buick Regal driven by Manzanares.
The vehicle, police say, was stopped seven blocks away at 38th Street and McDowell. Inside: Lopez, fatally shot by officers.
No officers were hurt in the shootout.
In addition to the first-degree murder charges the two women face, they’re also looking at armed robbery counts.
