PHOENIX — Newly released investigative interviews detail the chaotic moments surrounding the shooting of Phoenix Police Officer Tyler Moldovan.
Moldovan was shot eight times, including in the head, on Dec. 14, 2021. He survived, but the road to recovery is still a long one.
Phoenix Police Department released audio interviews and photographs to ABC15 on Wednesday. In those interviews, officers said they received multiple reports of cars racing and doing donuts around 2 a.m. near 19th Avenue and Camelback Road.
They tracked one of the cars, a black Dodge Charger, to a parking lot near 15th Avenue and Camelback Road. When officers pulled in, they saw a man, later identified as 24-year-old Essa Williams, jump the fence into an apartment complex, according to court records.
Moldovan, 22 years old at the time, was with his partner, Zachary Johnson, that night. They were both rookies, having graduated from the same academy class. Johnson considers Moldovan a best friend.
In newly released audio recordings, Johnson said they were on their way out of the apartment complex because they “hadn’t established a crime” when the shooting happened.
Johnson said they were leaving when they heard a noise from behind an apartment wall. Johnson said he didn’t “pay no mind" because it “sounded like a quick little cat or something like that.”
Johnson kept moving. He thought Moldovan was behind him. Then he heard 10 to 15 gunshots — the sounds coming very fast.
“I didn’t know if it was random gunshots. All I knew was my... my partner wasn’t behind me anymore. So, I was already preparing for the worst, and unfortunately, the worst is what happened,” Johnson said.
He sprinted toward the sounds, telling investigators he saw the suspect “on top of my partner.”
“I’m giving commands. I didn’t see a gun initially. And the reason why I didn’t shoot, I didn’t want to hit my partner,” he said.
He didn’t know at first that his partner had been shot, only that there was blood.
Johnson said he tackled the suspect. Other officers arrived to help.
Evidence photos show multiple bullets found at the crime scene as well as a gun and magazine found behind a wall of an apartment patio.
Officer Moldovan’s hat was found at the scene with holes in it as well as a bullet laying nearby.
Moldovan has had a miraculous recovery. His doctors told him he wouldn’t make it past the day he was shot. In April, Moldovan threw the first pitch at an Arizona Diamondbacks game.
As for the suspect in the shooting, Williams is awaiting trial on charges of attempted murder and other crimes. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
On Tuesday, ABC15 learned that three people, including his mother, pleaded guilty to illegally giving firearms to him. Those guns were not used in the shooting.
