In fact, Loya — who was the 13th person shot and killed by Phoenix police this year, eclipsing the department’s 2023 total of 12 — does not appear in the bodycam footage at all.
Police released dispatch audio and limited body-cam footage as part of the agency’s “critical incident briefing," which is made public after any police shooting or in-custody death. The briefings are narrated by officers. The video does not show Loya being shot — only the back of a truck from Fischer's perspective.
Loya’s death comes nearly six months after the U.S. Department of Justice released a long-awaited report on Phoenix police. Among other conclusions, it found that Phoenix police have a pattern of using excessive and unjustified deadly force. Phoenix police have also been under renewed scrutiny since video was released of two cops beating a deaf Black man with cerebral palsy in August, who on Nov. 19 filed a notice of claim for $3.5 million against the city of Phoenix.
The Phoenix City Council and many politicians, including Democratic Senator-elect Ruben Gallego, have opposed a consent decree, which would place the department under independent oversight. However, with police-friendly Republican Donald Trump set to reassume the presidency in January, it appears doubtful that the DOJ will be able to compel Phoenix police into a binding agreement.
‘Trying to be violent’
Around 10:20 p.m. on Nov. 28, a man called 911 and reported that Loya was menacing his family member near 83rd Avenue and McDowell Road.“He’s, uh, following her and threatening her. He’s driving like … I don’t know if he wants to hurt her, I don’t know,” the man says in dispatch audio included in the briefing. “He was trying to be violent but he never got out of his car, but he’s following her and trying to crash into her.”
According to police, the caller said he was worried that the man had a gun, though the department’s briefing video does not include a sound clip of that statement.
Officers tried to pull Loya over, but police said he sped off and evaded them. The officers drove around the area in which the car was last seen. They eventually found the vehicle parked on a driveway on 83rd Avenue and Osborn Road. It was empty with an open driver’s side door.
Police said an officer approached the house and heard a gunshot, which is audible at the beginning of one of the bodycam videos included in the briefing. Body-camera footage also shows two residents running from the house toward the officers and telling them the man was in their backyard and had fired a gun at one of them.
Officers surrounded the house, and one saw Loya in the backyard.
“If I see a gun, I’m taking it,” Fisher noted to another officer, who was not identified.
According to department spokesperson Sgt. Rob Scherer, the man was seen walking toward officers and raising a gun toward them. But that is not visible on or evident in Fisher's bodycam footage, which shows only the back of a truck during the time that Fisher fired three rifle shots at Loya. Another officer holding a rifle is visible in the footage, but the perspective of his bodycam is not included in the briefing.
“He’s down,” Fisher says after the third shot.
Scherer said in the briefing video that evidence found at the scene shows the suspect fired his gun during the confrontation with officers. Scherer declined to give more details about that evidence and how police were sure Loya fired during the encounter. Loya was hit with at least one bullet, according to police, and died on the scene. Police said they found a handgun next to Loya’s body.
Fisher has been on the force for seven years and is assigned to the Maryvale-Estrella precinct. Scherer said he is currently assigned to non-enforcement duties.
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office opened a criminal investigation into the shooting, and police are conducting an internal investigation to determine if officers followed department policy.
