Police said the man was wanted in a child sex-crime case and died at the scene.
PHOENIX, AZ — Phoenix police shot and killed a wanted felon Thursday evening in north Phoenix after officers tracked his SUV and stopped it near Pinnacle Peak Road and 23rd Avenue, authorities said.
The man, who police described as being in his 50s, had been wanted in a case involving sex crimes against a child. His name had not been released by Friday morning. No officers were hurt, and investigators had not said whether the man was armed.
Police said the encounter began before 6 p.m. Thursday as a tactical unit followed the man while he was driving in north Phoenix. Phoenix police spokesperson Vince Lewis said officers tracked the SUV as it moved west on Pinnacle Peak Road. When the SUV reached the area of 23rd Avenue, a K-9 handler in a police truck used a Grappler device to stop it. “He was joined by another detective, and that’s when the officer-involved shooting took place,” Lewis said.
The man was still inside the SUV when officers fired, Lewis said. After the shooting, officers waited until the scene was safe, removed him from the vehicle and called fire crews to check him. Fire personnel pronounced him dead at the scene. Police said no one else was inside the SUV. Authorities did not release the number of officers who fired, the number of shots, or what officers said they saw before the shooting. Lewis said investigators would interview the officers to learn what they observed during the stop.
The shooting closed Pinnacle Peak Road overnight from 23rd Avenue to Interstate 17 while investigators worked the scene. The road reopened about 5:45 a.m. Friday. The area is a busy north Phoenix corridor near neighborhoods, desert lots and freeway access, which made the closure a visible disruption for drivers moving through the northwest side of the city. Police did not report injuries to nearby residents or motorists. Authorities also had not released details about the child sex-crime case that led tactical officers to search for the man.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety is investigating the criminal part of the shooting. Phoenix police will conduct an internal review to determine whether officers followed department policy. Those reviews are standard after police shootings and usually include officer interviews, evidence collection, body-camera review and reports from outside investigators. Officials had not announced when body-camera video or a formal critical incident briefing would be released. The man’s identity is expected to be released after next of kin are notified.
The case adds to a growing number of officer-involved shootings in Arizona this year. Arizona’s Family records show it was the 21st officer-involved shooting in the Valley and the 43rd statewide in 2026. Police have released only a limited account so far, leaving key facts unknown, including whether the man had a weapon, whether officers tried to speak with him before the shooting, and whether the SUV stop led to any struggle or threat inside the vehicle.
By Friday, investigators had cleared the roadway and reopened the intersection area. The next major step is the release of the man’s name and more detail from the DPS investigation and Phoenix police internal review.
Author note: Last updated June 12, 2026.