Three Officers Wounded Following Shootout Outside Sky Harbor Airport

July 8, 2005
None of the officers' injuries were considered life-threatening. The suspect was dead at the scene but police are not sure if he killed himself or died in the shootout.

PHOENIX (AP) -- Three Phoenix police officers were wounded late Thursday night in a shootout following a vehicle pursuit that ended outside a terminal at Sky Harbor International Airport, authorities said.

None of the officers' injuries were considered life-threatening, said Sgt. Randy Force, a police spokesman.

According to Force, one officer was grazed in the forehead with a bullet; Another was shot in the forehead with a pellet, but the pellet didn't penetrate the bone; The most seriously injured officer was shot in the arm and in the neck. All three officers were listed in stable condition, Force said.

The suspect was dead at the scene but police are not sure if he killed himself or died in the shootout, according to Force.

The officers were taken to Phoenix-area hospitals for treatment. Their conditions were not immediately known and police did not immediately release their names.

Force said officers tried to stop a vehicle with a stolen license plate and a pursuit began on Interstate 10.

A female passenger in the suspect vehicle was dropped off before the male driver drove to an area near Sky Harbor's Terminal 4, where he stopped the vehicle and a shootout with police ensued just before midnight, Force said.

''The suspect is deceased at the scene. It is not clear if it is from our gunfire or he took his own life,'' Force said.

The suspect's name wasn't immediately known. Force said the unidentified female passenger was questioned and was going to be released, if she had not already been.

It appeared the woman, who police had not identified early Friday, didn't know the suspect very well.

''She was picked up by the guy or took a ride with him,'' Force said. ''He dropped her off before he did what he knew he was going to do, which was die in a shootout with police. He dropped her off so she wouldn't get caught in the middle of it.''

Last Thursday, police chased a stolen pickup into the airport. That chase ended with the truck smashing through a fence and speeding past taxiing aircraft before it was stopped. Police shot at the pickup, but the driver wasn't hit.

Flights were operating normally at the airport on Friday. However, access to the east economy parking lot was restricted because of the shooting.