A Lincoln Downtown Family YMCA resident was shot Monday afternoon after threatening a staff member and two police officers with a handgun, Phoenix police said.
The suspect, who police said was a male in his late twenties, was locked out of his room by the YMCA and was being escorted by a residential coordinator to his room on the seventh floor. He showed the coordinator a gun on his hip while in the elevator and “began to threaten the residential coordinator, saying he would kill him,” said Police Department spokesman Sgt. Trent Crump.
“We’re lucky the employee was able to get out, get downstairs and get the building locked down,” Crump said.
Crump said two officers worked their way up the building and encountered the suspect in a stairwell on the fourth floor. The suspect allegedly tried to remove his gun from a holster before engaging in a physical confrontation with one of the officers.
The officer pushed the suspect down a flight of stairs, Crump said. The suspect was said to have pointed his gun at one officer, and the other officer fired one shot, striking the suspect in the upper body.
The suspect’s wound was “serious, but not life-threatening,” Crump said. The suspect and one of the officers, who suffered a minor leg injury, were both taken to the hospital.
Crump said police were awaiting the suspect’s release from the hospital and that he will likely be facing two charges of aggravated assault.
Police are still investigating a cause for the suspect’s behavior.
Police found “a usable amount of drugs” on the suspect, Crump said, but police are still trying to determine whether it played a role in his behavior.
Residents and members were evacuated, said Greg Corns, vice president of operations and communications for Valley of the Sun YMCA.
“Our primary concern is obviously for safety. We followed standard procedures and everyone was evacuated safely,” Corns said.
The shooting, Corns said, which occurred around 3:35 p.m., took place at a relatively slow time of the day for the YMCA.
“The building was not as crowded as it normally would have been,” Corns said. “Things normally fill up more around 5 p.m.”
The incident inconvenienced many of the residents, who were kept out of the building until police finished checking floors for safety.
“My wallet and keys are up there,” YMCA resident Nicholas Krasula said. “I can’t go eat or anything.”
Contact the reporter at chloe.brooks@asu.edu
