PHOENIX — Phoenix police officers shot and killed a man in the backseat of a parked vehicle early Saturday morning after, police said, the man reached for a handgun while officers were attempting to contact him.
The incident began around 3:30 a.m. after a police officer witnessed a motorist speeding near 24th Street and Indian School Road, according to Sgt. Ann Justus, a spokesperson for the Phoenix Police Department.
She said officers briefly lost sight of the vehicle, but shortly located the driver turning onto Fairmount Avenue, and then parked in the driveway of a nearby home.
Police said the driver was not connected to the home, and that when officers pulled up, the man was lying in the backseat and would not respond to officers' questions or commands.
THREAD UPDATE: Police say at 3:30am, one of their patrol officers observed a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed.
— Christine Stanwood (@stanwoodreports) January 22, 2022
The officer quickly lost sight of that vehicle, but soon relocated it as it was pulling into the driveway of a home West of 23rd Street on Fairmount.
Sgt. Justus said officers attempted to get in touch with the man for over an hour without a response from him. At that point, a tactical team was called and broke one of the car windows.
Police said that was when the man reached for a gun. Officers then shot the man with both non-lethal and lethal rounds, police said.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. He was later identified by police as 37-year-old Dedrick Garcia.
Watch the police press conference below:
Phoenix police said all officers were equipped with body-worn cameras, and authorities are reviewing the footage as part of their internal investigation, which is standard for all police-involved shootings.
