PHOENIX — Witness video shows a man running away from police in a parking lot near 7th Street and Bell Road Monday afternoon.
Police said the man was holding a rock and trying to enter a Chili's when officers shot him. We're told that man is still in the hospital.
The Chili's location was still closed Tuesday morning with one of the doors just off the patio boarded up.
'I just came back to pay my bill," said Tom Cannon, who was inside the restaurant when the shooting happened.
"We heard gunshots outside the door and then we saw glass breaking," said Cannon. "Then we heard a man yelling and screaming in pain."
He and his wife were almost finished with their meal, when all of a sudden, he was telling her to get down.
Cannon and his wife were rushed out by police, and ended up going next door to the Hallmark store.
"They were letting people in the door, and then they would lock," said Cannon.
You can see on the store's surveillance camera people trying to figure out what happened and if they were safe.
"They received information that a subject was throwing rocks and bottles at vehicles and businesses," said Sgt. Philip Krynsky, with Phoenix police.
Police said this all started when they tried to make contact with the man. Officers said he had a "river rock" in his hand and was acting erratically. Police said the man ended up running away.
Police said the man still had the rock when he made it to the Chili's.
Officials said he wouldn't follow commands and tried to go inside the restaurant when the shooting occurred.
ABC15 asked on Tuesday what size the rock was, and where and how many times the man was shot. Phoenix police have not released that information.
"An officer can use deadly force to protect themselves or others," said Andy Anderson, retired assistant police chief.
Anderson told ABC15 early in the investigation it's tough to talk about theses types of incidents.
"Depending on what the suspect was doing at the time, who the suspect was threatening at the time, could weigh into the decision on what the officers do," said Anderson.
