At approximately 12:30 a.m., Pinal County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a home in the 5000 block of North Toltec Buttes Road, near Casa Grande in response to a 911 call from a woman who reported that a 16-year-old male acquaintance of her daughter’s was outside their house with a gun, threatening to shoot the caller’s boyfriend.
The caller reported that she had a restraining order against the 16-year-old boy from a past incident where he came into their house with a “butcher knife” threatening to kill her boyfriend.
Deputies arrived on-scene and located the suspect near the house. A confrontation between deputies and the suspect ensued, which escalated to a deadly force encounter, with deputies shooting and wounding the suspect. No family members and no deputies were injured during the incident. The suspect was flown to a Phoenix emergency room with gunshot wounds.
Just prior to deputies arriving on the scene, the caller reported the 16-year-old male was in a bush near the front of the house and claimed again to have a gun. Deputies arrived on scene and began searching for the 16-year-old suspect near his last known location.
Four deputies were on scene at the time of the confrontation. The suspect approached the deputies with one hand in his jacket pocket to obscure the object he had in his hand. He was yelling for the deputies to shoot him as he advanced on the deputies. The deputies repeatedly issued verbal orders for the suspect to stop and show his hands, but he did not comply. The suspect refused all commands as he advanced to within 6 feet of nearest deputy. Deputies, fearing for their life, were forced to shoot the suspect to stop his advance.
Immediately following the shooting, the deputies began rendering emergency first aid to the wounded suspect. Emergency medical resources arrived a short time later and the suspect was transported to a Phoenix area hospital with life-threatening wounds. He has since been upgraded to stable condition and is expected to survive.
After the shooting, the deputies discovered that the suspect had his hand on a cell phone in his pocket. In spite of his claims to the family that he was armed, it turns out he was not.
As with any deputy-involved shooting, the four deputies involved have been placed on paid leave, per policy.