Francis Clark, 43, was killed on Saturday by Phoenix police officers after he shot and killed his girlfriend, officials said.
Officers responded to the area near 37th Avenue and McDowell Road around 2 p.m. after a report of a possible armed home invasion. Several people called 911 and told dispatchers there was a man with a gun chasing a woman, later identified as 41-year-old Mercy Cordova. Other people heard gunshots.
Police arrived to find Cordova dead near the playground area of an apartment complex.
When the officers turned a corner, Clark started shooting from the second floor. Police returned fire and killed Clark, while a bullet hit one officer's vest and another grazed the arm of a second officer.
“I heard like 20 to 30 gunshots, and then I saw cops pass by," said Derian Hernandez, who works at a barber shop across the street.
“One officer was struck just above the belt line, if you will, and that round actually hit the base of his vest that probably saved his life. That officer is going to be ok. The second officer took a bullet wound; it was a grazing injury to his arm," said Officer James Holmes with the Phoenix Police Department.
“Everyone had to hide because there were so many gunshots, maybe 15 or 20 shots," said Jorge Gomez, owner of Jorge's Beauty Shop. He says the shop was full of customers when shots rang out across the street.
The officer with the graze, who police said is 44 years old and a 16-year veteran of the force, is expected to recover.
The officer shot in his vest is a sergeant with 16 years on the job, Phoenix police said. Both men were released from the hospital and had returned to their families late Saturday afternoon.
The susoect and woman killed had been in a relationship for several years, police said. The pair did not have any children. Clark lived at the apartment where the shooting happened.
ABC15 discovered that Clark previously served time for aggravated DUI.
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