Suspect injured in Phoenix Police shooting after reportedly attacking women

PHOENIX - The Phoenix Police Department is investigating after an officer-involved shooting happened the night of Wednesday, Sept. 30, when responding to a suspect who police say was "acting violently and causing damage to property."

It happened near Arcadia Drive and Indian School Road around 7 p.m. The 38-year-old suspect was struck in the leg but is expected to be okay. No officers were injured.

The initial calls that came into 911 allegedly stem from an assault at a nearby apartment complex. A woman says the suspect attacked her when she just finished walking her dog around 6 p.m.

Phoenix Police on scene of a police shooting Sept. 30

She says everything happened so fast and neighbors called police for her. The woman says the suspect ran off before officers arrived.

Once officers left, she says two other women in the area claimed the suspect attacked them too.

“He came up behind me and grabbed my arm and my hip or somewhere, and I just freaked out and I’m like, 'What?' He said,  'Come to your home, let’s go to your house, let’s go,' and I said, 'No,' and I started screaming," Lisa Sarwer said.

Officers arrived back to find the suspect reportedly armed with a knife, says Sgt. Tommy Thompson with the Phoenix Police Department.

He says the suspect ran from a sergeant to a canal before he laid in a ditch and did not comply with orders to drop his weapon.

“She was giving him commands to drop the knife. He has what appears to be a knife in his hand, told him to drop the knife and he did not comply with that. He got up, stood up in the air, in the ditch, and was told to drop the knife and he was told to not come toward her. There was repeated commands. As he stepped towards her, that's when the officer fired," Thompson said.

Police later confirmed the suspect's weapon was a pruning saw.

Thompson didn't provide information on the reports of the suspect attacking women.