Phoenix cop kills homicide suspect during 30-second shootout, chase

Update: This story was updated on June 4 to include the name of the person shot and killed by Phoenix police on June 2.


On May 16, in a rapid chase that took less than 30 seconds, a Phoenix police officer shot and killed a fleeing homicide suspect who cops say shot first.

Limited footage of the shooting — which includes no audio — was released Thursday by the Phoenix Police Department. It's among eight fatal shootings by Phoenix police this year.

The agency released the footage as part of its “critical incident briefing," which is made public after any police shooting or in-custody death. The briefings are narrated by officers and include edited compilations of body camera footage, dispatch audio and other information regarding an incident.

The briefing for the May 16 shooting was shorter and provided less information than usual: 29 seconds of body camera footage, almost all of it without any audio; a slowed-down clip of the same body-cam video; pictures of the guns allegedly used by the man shot; and images of bullet holes in a police car.

The man killed was Devin Montgomery, 23, whom police suspected of shooting and killing Brandon Russell, 29, earlier in the day. Officers responded to a report of gunfire around 2:15 p.m. near 33rd and Northern avenues, according to a media advisory. They found Russell with at least one gunshot wound. He died later at a hospital.

Detectives identified Montgomery as a suspect in the shooting — the briefing did not say how — and began to search for him. Montgomery was tracked to an apartment complex near 25th Avenue and Cactus Road, where police said they tried to arrest him.

According to police spokesperson Sgt. Brian Bower, there were “officers nearby responding to the area” of 25th and Cactus. But it’s unclear how many officers were at the scene when Montgomery was shot and killed. Bower wouldn’t tell New Times since “those are details that are under investigation” by the department.

The shooting starts

According to the briefing, Montgomery was walking toward his vehicle in the parking lot of the complex when he took out two pistols and fired on an officer, who was in an unmarked police car.

What happened next was captured in part by body-cam footage, though no sound from the encounter can be heard in the video. Police body cameras are programmed to capture 60 seconds of video without sound before they’re manually activated, according to police.

According to the body-cam footage, the officer exited the car and pursued Montgomery. Gunshots could be seen hitting the ground between them before Montgomery turned to flee through the apartment complex. A chase ensued.

Soon after, two guns were visible on the ground as Montgomery stumbled away, falling to the ground in the breezeway of an apartment building. At the end of the chase, the officer could be seen on video touching his chest to activate his camera. The last few seconds of footage were accompanied by audio.

Police said officers provided medical aid to Montgomery before he was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

It’s unclear how many bullets hit Montgomery, or where. The video released by police included pictures of three bullet holes in a car, though the vehicle was blurred in body-cam footage. In addition, police blurred a portion of Montgomery’s body after he’d fallen to the ground.

New Times asked police why the car and backside of Montgomery were blurred in the video. Bower responded that “the reasons for the redaction of the vehicle and the people involved are for the integrity of the investigation.”

Because almost all the footage is silent, many details about the encounter and killing are not clear, such as what commands the officer issued before the shooting began, who fired at what times and when the shooting stopped.

Officer on leave

Police have not named the officer involved, though they sometimes do in such incidents. Police spokesperson Sgt. Phil Krynsky did not address questions from New Times about why but said Thursday the department “will be working on updating the names.” The police advisory had not been updated as of Monday morning.

In its briefing, the department said the officer was assigned to the Tactical Support Bureau and has roughly seven years of service.

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office opened a criminal investigation into the shooting, and police are conducting an internal investigation to determine if officers followed department policy.

Bower would not comment on the status of the officer involved in the incident. However, he told New Times officers are given three days of paid leave after a shooting and then go into a non-enforcement position for some time. That contradicts what a different police spokesperson told New Times last week: that the standard period of paid leave is “30 days minimum.”

Bower did not respond to a follow-up question about the discrepancy.

Phoenix police fatal encounters in 2024

The U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating Phoenix police for more than 33 months over its use of force by officers, discriminatory policing and treatment of unsheltered and disabled people. Phoenix police Chief Michael Sullivan was brought in to lead the department in September 2022 as it dealt with the probe.

The city of Phoenix has publicly pushed back against any independent oversight sought by the Justice Department. But the recent resignation of the head of Phoenix's Office of Accountability and Transparency and the creation of a watered-down civilian review board call into question the city's ability to regulate its own police department.

In 2023, Phoenix police officers shot and killed 12 people, an increase from 10 fatal shootings in 2022. Police have shot and killed eight people so far in 2024, with four in the last month:

• Jan. 5: Officers shot and killed Junior Reyes, 30, after Reyes fired at officers, injuring one. Police said they were attempting to arrest Reyes, who was wanted on a felony warrant.
  
  
• Jan. 11: Officers shot and killed John Michael Lewis Jr., 43, in what started as a welfare check. Police said they tried to contact people through the back door of Lewis' house when Lewis appeared and produced a handgun. Police shot Lewis, and he was pronounced dead at his house.
  
  
• Jan. 27: Officers shot and killed Guy Vogel Jr., 42, after responding to a call that a store had been robbed and guns were taken. Police found Vogel and a woman, who they believed were the suspects. The officers gave verbal commands and fired a nonlethal launcher at Vogel, who fled and then produced a handgun. Police responded by firing at and hitting Vogel. Vogel was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.
  
  
• Feb. 13: An officer shot and killed Miguel Godines, 37. The incident began after officers spotted a car driving at high speed out of a parking lot. Following a chase and apparent attempts by Godines to steal other cars, police said Godines pointed a gun at one of them. An officer then shot Godines, who was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.
  
  
• May 7: An officer shot and killed Christopher Tavares, 27, after firing 29 shots at him, according to body camera footage. Police said Tavares shot at and struck the officer’s vehicle as the officer was pursuing him on suspicion of shoplifting. He was taken to a hospital and was pronounced dead.
  
  
• May 16: Police shot and killed Devin Montgomery, 23, in an apartment complex while officers were attempting to arrest him for his alleged role in a fatal shooting earlier in the day. According to police, Montgomery fired at police and struck their vehicle before officers fired back and hit him. Montgomery was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
  
  
• May 28: An officer shot and killed Sergio Frances Alvarez, 48, after he allegedly fired on another officer. Alvarez was riding his bike at 3 a.m. near 10th Street and Southern Avenue when he was pulled over for a traffic violation. Following an argument, Alvarez allegedly shot one of the officers in the leg, prompting the second officer to return fire. Alvarez was taken to a hospital but died from his injuries. The wounded officer was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. A briefing is expected on June 11.
  
  
• June 2: Police shot and killed Joshua Main, 27, while responding to a report of an armed robbery at 13th Street and Palm Lane. Two officers arrived around 2 p.m. and found a man in an alleyway on a motorcycle, which he allegedly stole minutes earlier. A police advisory said that as the officers exited their vehicle, the man raised a handgun toward the officers, prompting them to fire. Neither officer was injured, and the man was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. A briefing is expected June 17.