Police ID man shot, killed by officers in west Phoenix neighborhood; woman hospitalized

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - A man is dead after being shot by Phoenix police officers in a west Phoenix neighborhood Sunday night. He’s since been identified as 42-year-old James Saucedo.

The shooting happened near 43rd Avenue and Thomas Road around 7 p.m. According to authorities, fire crews were first called out to a medical call at a home off Encanto Boulevard, but after paramedics arrived at the home to find a woman shot, that was when police responded. As officers arrived, police said they found an armed suspect and tried to arrest him. At that point, police say Saucedo pulled out a gun, and a struggle ensued, and that’s when the shootout between officers and the suspect broke out. At this time, it’s unclear who fired the first shot or how many rounds were fired. Emergency crews pronounced Saucedo dead at the scene.

Police say the woman was taken to a hospital with a non-life-threatening injury. Detectives are still working on learning what led up to the shooting. An investigation is still underway.

The investigation focused on a car on the street in front of Jeovani Sandoval’s home on Encanto Blvd. “I got scared, because when you hear shots you don’t know if they hurt somebody or even hit the house,” said Sandoval. “I’m sad that someone’s life was compromised.”

Another neighbor, who didn’t want to be identified, says she began helping the woman who had been shot, at first believing she may have been having a miscarriage. Later she says she found out she was bleeding from a gunshot wound in her leg. She says the suspect told her that the woman bleeding was a victim of a drive-by shooting. But the unidentified neighbor believes the suspect actually shot the victim. “She was screaming a lot, she was screaming for help, in fact she was telling my daughter to help her, she said help me, I don’t want to die here,” said the unidentified neighbor.

This is the 13th officer-involved shooting in Maricopa County and the 17th in the state this year.

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