Ashley FitchOn Sunday afternoon another unjustified shooting took place in Arizona when a 26 year old police officer critically wounded an unarmed man by shooting him while in a west phoenix neighborhood.
“Two officers responded to a call at 4pm about possible drug activity in an alley way near 21st Ave and Heatherbrae Dr.” Said Sergeant Mercedes Fortune in a statement.
The 35 year old unarmed victim was trying to jump a fence and after the officer told him to stop, the man crouched down and faced away from the officer who took out his weapon and began giving oral commands. The man was fired at by the officer and wounded critically.
The corner where the shooting happened/photo by BrieAnna Frank
On Monday, a statement was released by police saying that “The suspect stood up, turned and charged at the officer, grabbing at his gun. The officer then maintained control of his weapon and shot the suspect, stopping the threat.”
The man was shot at by the officer and it wounded him critically. He was taken to the hospital and remains in critical condition. The officer only received minor injuries and is expected to return later on to aid in the investigation.
Police also say that the officer, whose name has not been released, has only been with the department for two years and also, was not wearing a body worn camera at the time. It is still unknown whether any of the incident was recorded. A team of officials are looking into why the officer shot the man.
This shooting ranks as the 32nd shooting in Phoenix this year involving their police department. This completely outranks 2013s all time high of 31 shootings.
