Officials say a man involved in an officer-involved shooting in the West Valley has died.
He is being identified by Phoenix police as 32-year-old Robert Musser.
Officers say they were doing a follow up on a suspect for his involvement in several felony crimes that occurred over the past two weeks.
While officers were doing their surveillance on Musser, he was seen getting into the backseat of a vehicle. When the vehicle stopped at a traffic stop, the rideshare driver got out of the vehicle after Musser allegedly pointed a gun at him. Musser then stole the vehicle.
"I said this isn’t going to end well for you, and he said no and he said drive just drive. And I said there is no way I’m driving you. And he leaned forward and tried to reach for the gun behind his back thank God it was trapped by his shirt and he was stumbling to get it out I threw The car in park, unbuckled my seatbelt, didn’t even have time to turn off the car throw myself out the door on the ground, spread eagle with my hands where they could see them.” rideshare driver John Charest said.
Officers say the incident took place near Watson and Broadway roads around 11 a.m. Tuesday.
Musser was followed by an air unit and officers eventually pinned the vehicle to stop the driver. Police say Musser opened fire on officers, who returned fire and shot him.
Officers then deployed gas and baton rounds into the vehicle to ensure he was no longer a threat before apprehending him.
He was taken to a hospital where he later died, according to police.
“He was a bad dangerous guy and he wanted to hurt people. He wanted to get away.” Charest said. "I’m happy they got him. Because we don’t want that on the streets. We got enough problems already. And I have no idea what he did but he could’ve gave up.”
No officers were injured in the shooting.
The officers involved in the shooting are a 48-year-old with 25 years with the Phoenix PD, and a 53-year-old with 28 years with the Phoenix PD.
No further information has been released.
