Shootout involving police leaves suspect dead, K-9 handler hurt in Glendale

GLENDALE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) -- A Glendale K-9 handler is out of the hospital after being shot during a deadly shootout on Thursday. It all started around 2:15 a.m. near 62nd and Olive avenues. Glendale Officer Tiffany Ngalula said a woman called 911 and told police her boyfriend was making threats with a handgun. When officers spotted him, he ran off further east near Alice Avenue. They eventually found him in a trailer that didn’t belong to him. Officers then tried to negotiate with him for several hours while he was barricaded inside the trailer, Ngalula said. The man was seen by officers holding the gun to his head.

Ngalula says a Glendale K-9 handler then had his dog go through an open window in the trailer. The man then shot the K-9 handler. According to Glendale police chief Chris Briggs, a SWAT team member returned fire, shooting and killing the suspect. The man died at the scene. Police say the K-9 was not hurt during the shooting. The officer was taken to the hospital with “very, very minor injures,” Briggs said. The officer has since been released. Police have not identified the suspect or the police officer. The investigation is ongoing.

Luis Anguiano owns the four-plex and trailer the man was barricaded in. He told police someone was in his trailer. “I went back, and I asked police officers, ‘did you lock the door in that bathroom? Because unless you locked it, there’s someone in there.’ And they said ‘no, we didn’t lock it,’ so they came back with the dog. And the dog was able to sniff something and alerted them that something was going on in that room,” he explained.

“It’s been a tough day across the Valley for law enforcement. So, this is definitely a traumatic scene for those that are involved. It’s not a day that we like to have to come out here and talk to the community; it’s a tough one for everybody,” said Ngalula.

Click within the media player below to watch Glendale Police’s full media briefing:

Ngalula added that no bystanders were hurt during the shooting. “This is a situation where someone was going through obviously a crisis where they are a threat to themselves, a threat to others. We were able to contain this incident to a specific trailer, if you will. None of the community was hurt, it’s a very difficult scene for everybody, but luckily no one in the community was hurt,” she said.

This was the second shooting involving officers in the Valley on Thursday. Around 10:30 a.m., a Phoenix police officer was shot near Cave Creek and Beardsley roads. The officer was rushed into surgery, and a manhunt is underway for the gunman.

Briggs sent out his condolences to Phoenix police and expressed his frustration with the rise in violence against police. “This is the second scene where an officer has been shot today. I want to remind everybody about the Phoenix officer who underwent surgery today, and please keep Phoenix, Chief Williams, the police department, and that officer and her family in your hearts,” said Briggs. “These things do not have to happen. The divisiveness, the lawlessness, does not have to happen. We shouldn’t be here talking about these things, and certainly not two in one day. We can all do better.”

Glendale’s police shooting is the 20th officer-involved shooting in Maricopa County this year. It’s the 32nd officer-involved shooting statewide, according to Arizona’s Family count.

Stay with Arizona’s Family as we continue to follow the story.

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