Everyone who was killed by Phoenix cops in 2025

In the first two months of 2025, four people were killed by Phoenix police — three of whom were shot and one of whom suffered a heart attack after being hit in the chest with a less-lethal weapon. Then there were no police killings until another one occurred in August, a significant dropoff from previous years.

Last year, Phoenix police officers shot and killed 14 people, surpassing the death toll of 12 in 2023 and 10 in 2022. That increase came while the Department of Justice wrapped up a three-year investigation of Phoenix cops by publishing a blistering report in June 2024. The report found that Phoenix police regularly committed civil rights violations, including discriminating against people of color, using excessive and unnecessarily deadly force and arresting unhoused people without cause.

Former Phoenix Police Chief Michael Sullivan was hired on an interim basis in September 2022 to lead the department as it dealt with the probe. Sullivan stepped down in April and the city later hired a replacement in Matt Giordano, a former Phoenix cop who worked for the department for 20 years before moving to the county sheriff’s office and the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board.

Mayor Kate Gallego and other city councilmembers pushed back against the notion that the city’s embattled police force requires independent oversight, arguing that the city was making strides in implementing reforms. The city recently adopted a new use-of-force policy but also undercut the chief of its Office of Accountability and Transparency and watered down its civilian review board. With the election of Donald Trump in November, any possibility of federally enforced reform became toast.

But the conclusions of the report haven’t been erased from the collective memory, or from Giordano’s.

“The information in that report didn’t go away. What created that report didn’t go away,” Giordano said at his first press conference as chief. “We should always be looking to evolve.”

Here’s a rundown of all the people who have been killed by Phoenix police this year. Where available, full stories about the deaths are linked to the names.

Turrell Clay, 33

Clay died after Phoenix police officers arrested him on Jan. 10 on an out-of-state warrant for a parole violation. Clay was shot by police repeatedly with less-lethal projectile weapons while he was on top of a roof. While recoiling in pain, officers screamed at him to get off the roof. He inched to the edge and fell to the ground, after which officers pounced and immediately began beating him. Clay was cleared by paramedics at the scene but complained of chest pain while being transported by police, who took him to a hospital. Clay died during a surgical procedure. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner ruled his death a homicide, listing the cause as blunt-force trauma from the less-lethal weapons fired at him.

Christopher Phillips, 45

On Jan. 17, a Phoenix cop shot and killed Phillips while he was running away with a single rifle shot. Police said Phillips pointed a gun at an officer, but footage from a body camera released by the department doesn’t clearly show that. Police said they received complaints about “multiple trespassers in an abandoned home.” When cops arrived, Phillips jumped a fence and ran from police. After being shot, Phillips died at a hospital.

David Garcia, 41

On Feb. 12, Phoenix police received a report that Garcia was forcing a woman into his vehicle at gunpoint near I-10 and 51st Avenue. Hours later, officers located Garcia and the woman in Mesa. Following his truck into Gilbert, police said they unsuccessfully tried to immobilize it, after which Garcia made a U-turn and shot at officers. The officers used several cars to stop the truck and four of them fired at the truck, hitting Garcia, who later died at a hospital. Police removed the woman from the car and discovered she had a gunshot wound. According to Gilbert police, who are investigating the incident, a Mesa police ballistic exam indicated that the bullet fragments in the woman were from Garcia’s gun.

Dominic Gracia, 31

Gracia was shot and killed while trying to hide in a recycling bin, according to police. Just after midnight on Feb. 19, an officer patrolling South Phoenix saw a red truck speeding and attempted to pull the driver over, according to police. Gracia ran into a neighborhood while leaving the truck in drive as it drifted toward a house. The officer stopped the truck. Other officers arrived with a canine unit to search the area, finding Gracia in the bin. Body-worn camera footage showed Gracia poking his hand out and blindly firing one shot from a handgun, prompting two officers to fire a dozen bullets at him.

Rocky Joe Ellis, 47

Around 4 a.m. on Aug. 19, police were alerted about a man who was trespassing in a restaurant on 20th and Northern avenues and cutting himself in front of employees and customers. When they arrived, they saw Ellis was wielding a hatchet. A press advisory said that officers asked Ellis to drop it, but he didn’t and instead started walking toward them. One cop fired a less-lethal weapon, which the department said had “limited effect,” before another officer shot Ellis with a gun. It’s unclear how many shots the officer fired. Ellis was pronounced dead at a hospital. The Arizona Department of Public Safety is investigating the shooting, and a fuller briefing on the incident is expected by Sept. 2.