Woman Held at Knifepoint, Situation Ends in Shooting
Punctuating a powerful end to a suspenseful situation, on Saturday, Mesa police officers shot and killed a man who had been holding a woman at knifepoint.
According to a police spokesman, at 12:21AM, police were responding to a domestic violence call that took place at the Coral Point Apartments locate on the 2300 block of West Main Street. When they arrived on the scene, Detective Steve Berry says that they “found a man with a knife in an apartment holding a woman in an arm lock around her throat.”
According to Det. Berry, the man also had 4 children with him at the time, although it is unclear whether the children were his or the woman he had hostage.
Berry says that they attempted to negotiate with the man for over a half hour, but the man refused to let the woman go. While the negotiating was going on, officers were able to get inside the apartment, and safely get the 4 children out.
After a period of unsuccessful negotiation, the man grew increasingly agitated and started making threatening gestures towards the woman. It was at that point officers determined that in the name of everyone’s safety, it was necessary to shoot the man.
Berry closed his report by saying that the man was pronounced dead at the scene, the woman was bruised but sustained no serious injuries, no officers were hurt, and that the children were unharmed as well. In order to protect those involved, no identifications have been released.
