By Canadian Press

5 Phoenix police officers wounded in shootout at home

Feb 11, 2022 | 10:23 AM

PHOENIX (AP) — Five officers were shot and four others were injured by shrapnel or ricocheting bullets in an ambush after they responded to a shooting in Phoenix, a police spokesman said Friday.

The most seriously injured officer was the first on scene and was invited into the home before he was shot, Phoenix Police Sgt. Andy Williams told reporters. He retreated to safety.

Four other officers were injured when trying to rescue an infant who had been placed outside the home, Williams said.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

PHOENIX (AP) — Five Phoenix police officers were shot and wounded after responding to a report of gunfire inside a home early Friday, including four who were shot while trying to take a baby to safety, police said.

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The suspect was found dead in the home following a barricade situation and a woman at the home was critically injured, police said in a statement that didn’t specify how the suspect died.

Police Chief Jeri Williams told reporters that four of the five wounded officers were recovering from their gunshot wounds while the fifth was “seriously hurt but is on the road to recovery.”

Williams later told KTAR-FM that three more officers were hit by bullet fragments and “stayed on scene … to take care of business and make sure the scene was secure.”

The baby had been inside the home “and at some point was placed in a carrier and placed outside,” Williams told reporters at one of two hospitals were wounded officers were treated.

A video on KPNX-TV showed a man coming out of the home with what appeared to be a bag, setting it down just outside the front door and then raising his hands to surrender while backing away from the house. The video then appeared to show gunfire as officers approached the doorway and then scattered.

Sgt. Ann Justus, a police department spokesperson, said the baby was unharmed.

Williams said the first officer to arrive was shot and wounded “multiple times” by a suspect.

“This is just one more example of the dangers that officers face every day keeping us and our community safe,” Williams said. “If I seem upset, I am. This is senseless. It does not need to happen and it continues to happen over and over again.”

No identities were released and police said they were still trying to learn circumstances of the incident.

The neighborhood where the events unfolded has newly built homes and the home where the shooting happened had its second-story windows shot out.

Jacques Billeaud And Paul Davenport, The Associated Press