Wednesday, the Phoenix Police Department released a “critical incident briefing” on the events that led to Garcia’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 said Garcia fired at them when officers tried to stop his truck. The briefing shows police quickly emerging from multiple vehicles to fire at Garcia’s truck from close range before breaking a window, opening the door and pulling the woman from the passenger seat.
The woman suffered a gunshot wound, but according to Gilbert police, which is investigating the shooting, a Mesa ballistic exam showed the bullet fragments recovered from her were from Garcia’s weapon.
Garcia was the second person shot and killed by Phoenix police this year, though another was shot and killed on Feb. 19. Another man died in police custody on Jan. 10. Phoenix police shot and killed 14 people last year and 12 in 2023, both up from 10 in 2022.
‘He has a gun!’
The briefing starts with audio from a 911 call on Feb. 11. At a hotel near 53rd Avenue and Interstate 10, a caller reported seeing Garcia forcing a woman into a car at gunpoint.“He has a gun! He has a gun!” the caller tells the dispatcher in the clip. “He’s trying to shoot her. He’s pointing it at her as we speak.”
Garcia drove away and officers later arrived on the scene to gather information. Department spokesperson Sgt. Brain Bower said officers from the department’s Neighborhood Enforcement Team located Garcia and the woman in Mesa several hours later.
NET officers and officers from the Special Assignments Unit followed the truck as Garcia drove into Gilbert. Near the intersection of Higley and Williams Field roads, police tried to “immobilize” the truck but failed. Police said Garcia made a U-turn and began shooting at officers, hitting one of the police cars.
Footage from the attempt to stop Garcia’s truck and of him shooting at police was not included in the briefing. However, one officer can be heard yelling, “He’s shooting at us,” as the officer exits his vehicle with a rifle. Neither Phoenix police nor the Gilbert Police Department, which is investigating the shooting, has not yet released the names of the officers involved.
After stopping the car, four officers quickly exited their vehicles and converged on Garcia’s red pickup truck, firing at him from near point-blank range. They then broke the passenger side window and pulled out the woman, whose name has not been released. They found that she had a gunshot wound, which Mesa police determined was from Garcia’s gun.
The woman was taken to a hospital with severe injuries but is now in stable condition and expected to survive, according to Gilbert police spokesperson Brenda Carrasco. Garcia was also taken to a hospital, where he died.
The four officers who fired at Garcia have worked for Phoenix police between 6 and 31 years, according to Bower.
Under investigation
Gilbert police are currently investigating the incident. Despite the shooting happening outside of Phoenix city limits, no other agencies besides Phoenix police were involved. After the investigation is complete, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will review it, according to Carrasco.The incident occurred during a time of intense scrutiny on Phoenix police. Eight 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.
