PHX Reporter

Grassroots activist Merissa Hamilton recently criticized Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego (D) and others who promoted defunding the police as crime increases in the area.

“After Kate Gallego and the Dems called for defunding the police, criminals think it's game on to attack law enforcement trying to keep our neighborhoods safe,” Hamilton wrote in a June 19 Twitter post. “Prayers over our law enforcement.”

Hamilton’s tweet included a link to an AZFamily News report detailing a recent criminal incident in Phoenix that left the suspect dead, and two members of law enforcement in the hospital. According to the article, on the morning of June 19, a Department of Public Safety trooper attempted to pull over a truck near 21st Avenue and Thomas Road when the the driver suddenly opened fire on the officer, striking him, before pulling away and leading police on a chase.

A Phoenix police officer was also injured by gunfire from the suspect, but managed to return fire. The suspect continued his escape until he crashed into a wall at a dead end near 36th and Lewis avenues. The suspect was found dead inside the vehicle with a gunshot wound, but it remains unclear if he was wounded by police or shot himself, according to the AZFamily News report. Both the trooper and police officer were treated at hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

This is the second recent shooting of a DPS trooper, with AZFamily News also reporting about an incident in late May. A DPS trooper was investigating just north of Loop 101 in the area of 19th Ave when he was shot multiple times by a suspect who escaped and barricaded himself in an apartment. Police later apprehended the suspect along with a second suspect who was aiding his escape. The trooper was taken to the hospital where they announced he would make a full recovery in time.

The article also included a map showing all officer-involved shootings in Arizona thus far in 2023. Only 10 of the 42 incidents occurred outside of Maricopa County lines.

According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the last time a DPS Trooper was killed in the line of duty was 2018. Four Maricopa County deputies were killed in the line of duty throughout 2021, the most recent being in November of 2021.