Mesa police shot and killed a man late on the evening of Aug. 3 after multiple 911 callers reported that he was attacking his ex‑wife and children with a shovel and damaging nearby vehicles. Officers were dispatched to a neighborhood near Elliot and Mountain roads in east Mesa after calls began coming in about the disturbance and reports that the suspect might also be armed with an ax and a gun. The department said the initial response began at about 7:09 p.m. as patrol units moved to the scene to confront what had been described as a volatile domestic incident.
As neighbors watched and several residents tried to intervene before officers arrived, emergency crews converged on the block. People who witnessed the events had phoned 911 to report both the assaults on family members and property damage; those callers told dispatchers the man was assaulting family members with a shovel and destroying vehicles in the area. Neighbors' attempts to stop the alleged attacks were reported by police, who said multiple people in the immediate area had been directly affected by or had witnessed the disturbance.
Mesa police patrol vehicle with flashing lights and crime‑scene tape blocks a neighborhood street after officers shot and killed a man accused of attacking his ex‑wife and children, Aug. 2026.
When an officer reached the location, police say he encountered the man carrying an ax. According to the department, the officer issued verbal commands to the suspect before discharging his weapon. The police statement did not specify the actions the man took in the moments immediately before the officer fired. Investigators have not released the identity of the man who was shot, and the agency declined to provide additional detail about the interaction beyond that an ax was present and verbal commands were given prior to the shooting.
Officers at the scene provided medical aid after the shooting, and paramedics later pronounced the man dead at the location. Police said no one else sustained injuries in the incident, including the man’s family members who had been the subject of the 911 complaints. The department did not offer further specifics on the condition of any family members beyond stating that there were no other injuries, and no other victims were reported by responding personnel.
The East Valley Critical Incident Response Team has taken over the investigation into the police shooting, with the Gilbert Police Department serving as the lead agency, the department reported. That team will be responsible for collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses and completing a review of the actions taken by the officer involved; investigators have not released anticipated timelines for when their work will be finished or when more information will be made public. The Mesa department has not identified the officer who fired the shot or provided details about any body‑worn camera footage, if available.
The shooting is one of many officer‑involved shootings that have occurred across the state this year. Police departments in Arizona have recorded at least 53 shootings so far in 2026, with at least 29 of those incidents resulting in fatalities. Authorities have been releasing figures as investigations are opened and cases advance, but officials cautioned that the statewide count is based on incidents reported to date and may change as further data comes in.
Police emphasized that several separate 911 calls described the man damaging vehicles in addition to the allegations of assault with a shovel. Callers also reported that the suspect may have been armed with more than one type of weapon, noting both an ax and the possibility of a firearm. Those reports shaped the initial response by officers, who arrived on scene expecting a volatile situation. Beyond confirming that the man was carrying an ax when an officer encountered him, the department has not disclosed whether other weapons were found at the scene or whether property damage was documented during the investigation.
Investigators with the East Valley Critical Incident Response Team and the Gilbert Police Department will continue to gather facts and interview witnesses as they piece together the sequence of events that led up to the shooting. At this time, there has been no release of the deceased man’s name, no announcement of disciplinary action or criminal charges related to the officer’s use of force, and no additional injuries reported by authorities. The police department urged anyone with information about the incident to contact investigators as the inquiry proceeds.
Mesa police have since identified the deceased as 59-year-old Perry Forster. Updated reporting from azfamily.com and FOX 10 Phoenix reveals neighbors heroically intervened during the assault, with one grabbing a baseball bat to protect the ex-wife and children as Forster switched from a shovel to an axe, and that one police round missed and struck a parked car.