What Happened

On the evening of Monday, February 23, 2026, a Phoenix police officer was struck by gunfire when a suspect's gun went off during a struggle in south Phoenix, near 15th and Atlanta avenues. KTAR put the incident at about 8:15 p.m.

According to the Phoenix Police Department's critical incident briefing and news reports:

  • Officers were sent to a 911 call reporting that a man had pointed a gun at someone at a park near 19th Avenue and Roeser Road.
  • Officers found the man leaving on a bicycle and followed him. He got off the bike and ran toward a house, and officers chased him on foot.
  • One officer fired a 40mm less-lethal launcher, which did not stop him. A second officer tackled him.
  • As the two went to the ground, the man's gun went off, striking both him and the officer, according to police.
  • The man died at a hospital. The officer, a South Mountain Precinct officer with about seven years of service, was treated at a hospital for a minor gunshot injury and released.
  • Phoenix police said no outside agency investigation was required and that the department's administrative review would not reach conclusions "until all facts are known."

What is not public: where the officer was hit, what first aid was given on scene, and how the officer was transported. We are not assuming anything beyond what police released.

The Lesson

This is a general principle, not a finding about this response.

In a close struggle, an officer may not know they've been shot. When a gun goes off between two people on the ground, both may be hit, and the officer may be focused on control, not on their own body. Once the suspect is secured, the first medical step is simple: check yourself and check your partner. A quick blood sweep with gloved hands, from head to toe and including the back, finds wounds that adrenaline hides.

Treat every gunshot wound as potentially serious until it's been evaluated. "Minor" is a word for the hospital to use after an exam, not an assumption to make on scene. C-TECC's Indirect Threat Care phase applies the MARCHE sequence (Major hemorrhage, Airway, Respirations, Circulation, Head/Hypothermia, Everything else) to every casualty, including an officer who says he's fine. The Joint Trauma System's Damage Control Resuscitation Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG ID 18) states that "hemorrhage is the leading cause of preventable death on the battlefield." It is a military document and is offered here as context for civilian law enforcement, but its point holds: bleeding control comes first, and it starts with finding the bleeding.

The same scene can have two casualties. Here, the suspect was also shot. Responders should expect to call for more than one ambulance and to manage care for the suspect once he is secured, while keeping the officer's care from being delayed.

What Your Agency Should Do Now

  • Build "check yourself, check your partner" into every use-of-force debrief drill, so the self-sweep becomes a habit after any struggle, not only after a gunfight.
  • Practice a one-handed and two-handed self-sweep in uniform and duty gear, including reaching the lower back.
  • Plan for multiple patients on a single call, with a clear radio request for more than one ambulance and a staging point for EMS.

Sources