TJ L’Heureux
Audio By Carbonatix
Last year, the Phoenix Police Department went long stretches without shooting and killing anyone, and wound up killing three fewer people in 2025 than it did the year prior. But 2026 is off to a deadly start for one of the most scrutinized local law enforcement agencies in the country.
The year began with a Phoenix cop shooting and killing the wrong person, resulting in the death of a father who had subdued a home intruder. In January, two Phoenix officers and several Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers shot and killed a man in his car who may have been unarmed. Since then, police shootings have become only more frequent.
Since Thursday, Phoenix police officers have shot and killed three people, whom the department has yet to identify publicly. That brings the department’s total to five killings in two and a half months, putting it almost halfway to its 2025 total of 11 police killings. A sixth person died during an interaction with police, though that was because he accidentally shot himself while a cop tackled him.
Last year, during a similarly busy run of police shootings in late summer, Phoenix Police Chief Matt Giordano issued a statement that outlined new procedures and training intended to cut down on the use of police force. He has not done so in response to these most recent shootings. When asked if the department or Giordano had a comment on the shootings, the department provided a statement.
“The recent officer‑involved shootings remain under investigation. Because these reviews are still in progress, we are not able to provide further information or make any inferences about the incidents at this time,” an unnamed spokesperson wrote. “Once the investigative process is complete, the department will review the findings and assess whether there are opportunities for improvement, including any considerations related to training or policy.”
The first of the recent spate of shootings occurred just after 2 a.m. on March 12. According to police, the department received a report of a shooting in north Phoenix and responded to find a man “walking in the roadway who matched the description of one of the involved subjects” near 32nd Street and Paradise Lane. The man was armed, police said, and approached officers with the gun despite commands to stop and drop it. Though a police advisory on the shooting does not say the man was pointing the gun, at least one officer fired, per police. The man fell to the ground and then pointed his gun at officers. An officer fired again, hitting him. The man later died at a hospital.
Police killed another person a day later. Around 6 p.m. on March 13, police responded to a domestic violence call in west Phoenix. An officer arrived to find “a man who was the subject of the call,” per a police advisory, and chased him through a nearby “complex” near 3500 West Osborn Road. A second officer arrived and police said the suspect was “seen carrying a rifle.” The man “refused repeated commands to stop and to drop the weapon” — though police have not said he pointed it at anyone — and an officer shot him. The man was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Most recently, police shot and killed a man after an armed standoff on Sunday morning. Around 6 a.m., officers responded to reports of a fight near 43rd Avenue and Medlock Drive in west Phoenix. “When they arrived, they found an adult woman and a young child in the backyard of an apartment behind a locked wrought-iron gate,” a police advisory said. “The woman told officers the man inside was armed.” The woman and child were taken to safety and ordered the man, whom they saw inside the apartment, to drop the gun. Police said he did not comply. After officers took cover, police deployed a drone to keep an eye on the man’s apartment; police said the man shot and disabled the drone. The man also “fired multiple shots” while inside — though police did not say at whom he fired them — and police then shot and killed him.
All three shootings are being investigated by the Major Incidents Division of DPS, which examines all Phoenix police shootings. DPS has yet to complete a review of any Phoenix police shooting so far this year.
