That barrage resulted in the death of 31-year-old Dominic Gracia, who became the fourth person to die this year after a run-in with Phoenix police. Phoenix police shot and killed 14 people last year and 12 in 2023, both up from 10 in 2022.
Friday, the Phoenix Police Department released a “critical incident briefing” about Gracia’s death. The department’s briefings are narrated by officers and made public after any police shooting or in-custody death. They typically include a limited selection of dispatch audio and body-worn camera footage.
Phoenix police Sgt. Brian Bower said two officers fired at Gracia. The department has not identified the two officers, though Bower said they had seven and eight years of experience with the department. 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.
The incident occurred during a time of intense scrutiny on Phoenix police. Nine months ago, the U.S. Department of Justice released a long-awaited report on Phoenix police, which found that Phoenix police have a pattern of using excessive and unjustified deadly force.
Earlier this year, video from another fatal police shooting showed an officer shooting and killing a man at long range while the man was running away. The officer claimed the man pointed a gun at him, but that isn’t visible in the video shared by police.
Hiding in a recycling bin
According to police, Gracia was spotted by officers speeding in a truck around 15th Avenue and Vineyard Road after midnight on Feb. 19. An officer tried to pull Gracia over, but Bower said Gracia “got out and ran into a neighborhood” on 16th Drive while letting his car roll toward a house. The officer then stopped the car, but lost Gracia in the meantime and called for backup.“I had to stop the vehicle,” the officer told a dispatcher in audio included in the briefing. “He started ghost-riding it.”
Police said canine units were used to track Gracia down to a recycling bin on the side of a home, which was then surrounded by seven officers. They ordered him to get out, but Gracia remained silent. According to Bower, the standoff lasted five minutes.
Officers fired nonlethal pepper balls — several officers can be heard coughing as a result of the pepper balls — and foam projectiles at the bin. Gracia then lifted his foot out of the bin. Video in the briefing shows that officers then told Gracia to put his hands up, at which point he took out a gun and fired it once.
Officers then fired at least a dozen shots, hitting Gracia, who was pronounced dead at the scene by Phoenix firefighters.
