PHOENIX — It was a terrifying night Wednesday in the Arcadia neighborhood of Phoenix after witnesses encountered a man acting violently, causing damage to property and chasing a woman with a wooden-handled pruning saw.
It ended with a Phoenix police sergeant shooting that man, who has yet to be identified after he advanced towards the sergeant with the weapon in hand.
The Phoenix Police Department responded to a man acting violently, assaulting people, and causing damage to property in the area of 4200 E. Calle Redonda.
Police said a sergeant was directed to a 38-year-old man by witnesses on the canal bank and the sergeant could see he was armed with an edged weapon, later determined to be a wooden-handled pruning saw.
Officers said the man took off running as the sergeant gave him commands to stop and drop the saw. The sergeant later found the man laying down in a drainage ditch still armed with the weapon.
The sergeant attempted to de-escalate the situation and gave him several commands to drop the weapon and to stay where he was.
Officers said the man "ignored commands, stood up, and advanced toward her with the weapon in his hand". The sergeant fired their gun, striking the man.
Witnesses said that officers provided first aid and the Phoenix Fire Department transported the suspect to a local hospital for treatment of his non-life-threatening injuries. No officers or other community members were injured in this incident. This investigation is ongoing.
“There were probably four or five police officers down there and then police and then lots of police officers around there and they told us to go back into the house,” said Stacey Rouse.
Rouse and her family were home when a woman who was running from the man rang their doorbell seeking refuge.
“She was upset and crying and clearly something happened down at the end of the street. She was in her car and a man was banging on her car trying to get in and open the driver's door,” she said.
Chris Karpman said that the woman's car was parked outside of his house and shared this picture of his front glass door shattered on twitter after the same woman rang his doorbell.
“My daughter also came out of her bedroom and talking about how she heard gun shots back in the canal and you could hear really loud voices back there,” said Rouse.
She is thankful the woman rang her doorbell.
“So glad she was where she was and that we were able to support her and be there," she said.
Phoenix police said that charges are pending while the suspect is recovering in the hospital.
