GOODYEAR, AZ — A shooting suspect was shot and killed by officers in the West Valley early Monday morning.
Police were first called to a shooting in the area of Estrella Parkway and Van Buren Street around 1:30 a.m.
Officers responded to the scene and found a man with a gunshot wound. The victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
The suspect in that shooting reportedly fled the scene but was located by officers a short time later nearby, near 152nd Drive and Van Buren Street.
Police say the suspect was armed and approached an occupied vehicle at an intersection. Officers told the armed man to put down his weapon, but he did not comply.
An officer then fired at the man, killing him. He has been identified by police as 29-year-old James Dopson.
The person in the vehicle was not hurt during the incident.
When ABC15 talked with family members later in the day they said the victim and suspect were brothers.
"It's just hard to believe," a loved one told ABC15, over the phone.
The woman, wanting her name to be kept private, told us they heard the news Monday morning but… "When you wake up and see a news reporting on your phone, you don't expect it to be you," she added.
The family member says the brothers were estranged from the family and didn't have a close relationship (with each other).
"James Michael is the one who was shot by the police, and he is currently going through a divorce. And then Craig is the one who is currently in the hospital," said the brothers’ loved one.
Family identified the victim to ABC15 as Craig Sautter, who was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
"The only information that we have is that he is on life support, in ICU. He had to get rushed in and he had surgery, but I don't think he'll make it," she said.
"I don't know how they're going to bounce back from it," said the siblings’ loved one.
Meanwhile, the brothers' family is left reeling, now having to possibly plan two funerals for two brothers.
"That's the hard part. It's like you're going to bury two sons and one of the sons was taken because of the other," she told ABC15.
