Man and woman dead, 9 officers hurt after Phoenix ambush, 2 shootings

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) – A man is dead, a woman was shot to death, and nine police officers are recovering after an early morning “ambush” turned into a standoff which ended with a shooting at a south Phoenix home Friday.

How it started

It happened in the area of 54th Avenue between Lower Buckeye and Broadway roads shortly after 2 a.m. Sgt. Andy Williams said it started with a 911 call about a woman who had been shot. A single officer was the first to arrive and was met by a man, who was later identified as 36-year-old Morris Jones III. “He was actually invited by the suspect,” Williams said. “As he approached the doorway, the suspect ambushed him with a gun and shot him several times.” That wounded officer then got to safety and backup shortly after. The woman later identified as 29-year-old Shatifah Lobley and police say she was the first one to call 911 to the home.

Those officers surrounded the house and started yelling to the people inside to come out. Then a man with a baby in his arms came out of the house. The man was later identified as Lobley’s brother. He put the baby in a carrier on the ground and then put his hands up. Officers ordered him to walk backward to them with his hands up, which he did. That’s when Jones opened fire again, Williams said. The baby was not hurt, but four more officers were shot. Another four were injured by shrapnel. Williams said two officers returned fire. A videographer who was there recorded everything.

Standoff

Jones then went inside the house and wouldn’t come out. SWAT officers tried to negotiate with him. When they eventually went inside, they found Jones dead. They also found Lobley, who was taken to the hospital where she later died.

At this point, it’s not clear what led to the initial shooting. In an update on Saturday afternoon, police say the one-month-old baby is Morris and Lobley’s child. The baby is now in custody of the Department of Child Safety.

Police chief: “This is senseless.”

“If I seem upset, it’s because I am,” Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said in the morning, emphasizing the struggles and safety concerns law enforcement officials face every single day. “This is senseless, doesn’t need to happen and [it] continues to happen over and over again.” The shooting comes two months after a fellow officer, Tyler Moldovan, was shot eight times, including once to the head.

“It’s terrifying”

“This is the first time anything extreme like this has happened here,” Classie Taylor, who lives down the street from the shooting scene, told Arizona’s Family. “It’s terrifying to know something like this could be happening outside your own home.”

“This is a little rattling for me,” neighbor Kameron Jackson agreed. “My house is like 50 yards away.”

14th officer-involved shooting

According to data kept by Arizona’s Family, there are been 14 shootings involving law enforcement in Arizona this year. Nine of those happened in Maricopa County.

In an update on Sunday afternoon, police say seven officers have been released from the hospital and two remain hospitalized.

Editor’s note: Police initially reported five officers were involved in a critical incident. The count later increased to eight officers wounded in the standoff before the latest update gave a final tally of nine officers involved.