Chandler detectives shot and killed a man in Tempe on Friday after officers say he fled an attempted arrest and produced a firearm. The detectives had been pursuing the man in connection with an alleged aggravated assault in Chandler that occurred about two weeks earlier, police said.
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The effort to take the suspect into custody unfolded shortly before 8 p.m., when detectives moved to detain him in Tempe. As the officers tried to place him under arrest, the man ran on foot into an apartment complex near the intersection of Scottsdale and McKellips roads, where the confrontation escalated, police said. Officers opened fire after the suspect displayed a gun.
Mugshot (left) and a separate in-car photo (right) of the man police say was linked to an earlier aggravated assault and later shot by Chandler detectives while fleeing arrest in Tempe.
Police reported that the firearm was recovered at the scene after the shots were fired and the suspect was down. In the immediate aftermath, officers rendered medical aid to the man at the location before firefighters arrived; firefighters later pronounced him dead. Officials did not release the man’s name, identifying him only as an unidentified suspect.
The shooting drew investigators to the apartment complex and prompted a police response that included cordoning off a portion of the property while officers and detectives worked the scene. Photographs from the location show a Chandler police vehicle and officers standing near the secured area as investigators processed the site and gathered evidence.
A Chandler police vehicle and officers at the cordoned-off parking lot where investigators responded to the Tempe incident in which a suspect was killed while fleeing.
The Mesa Police Department has been assigned to investigate the shooting. No additional details about the progress of that investigation, including any statements from detectives or timelines for releasing findings, were provided. Police said the detectives involved were from Chandler and that the arrest attempt in Tempe stemmed from their belief that the man had been involved in an aggravated assault two weeks prior in Chandler.
Authorities have not released further public information about the alleged aggravated assault that prompted the attempted arrest, and no charges had been announced at the time the incident was reported. The circumstances described by law enforcement are limited to the sequence that led to the confrontation: an attempted detention by Chandler detectives, the suspect’s flight on foot into the apartment complex, the suspect’s display of a firearm, officers firing, recovery of the weapon, and the subsequent death of the suspect after medical aid was provided.
This account is an updated version of a story originally published on July 17, 2026.
Audio from a nearby resident's Ring camera recorded multiple gunshots at about 7:53 p.m. followed by a radio call of "998" for an officer-involved shooting, as shared with AZFamily and FOX 10 Phoenix. Mesa police continue the independent investigation into the use of deadly force.
The Mesa Police Department responded as the East Valley Critical Incident Response Team (EVCIRT) lead and is conducting the criminal investigation on behalf of Tempe; under Tempe Police procedures the completed criminal file — including unredacted video, interviews and forensic evidence — will be forwarded to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for review, and Mesa notes such criminal investigations can take up to six months to finish depending on lab work.
Chandler officials told local media the detectives involved were assigned to the department’s Special Investigations Section.
Tempe’s published officer-involved-shooting procedures note that officers cannot be compelled to provide statements during the criminal investigation, that an administrative Internal Affairs review follows the criminal probe, and that the Tempe Citizens’ Panel for Review of Police Complaints and Use of Force may review the case; the city also offers crisis support through its CARE7 program at 480-350-8004.