PHOENIX — Two people were taken to a hospital after a shooting Sunday morning outside a west Phoenix restaurant, and officers detained the people inside a car that drove away from the scene, according to the Phoenix Police Department.
Officers were sent to the area of 35th Avenue and Bethany Home Road around 8:15 a.m. on Oct. 4 for a reported shooting, police said. While they were still on their way, dispatchers told them that two people had been hit and that a suspect vehicle had already left.
The department’s Air Unit was called in and spotted the car from above. Ground officers then stopped it and detained the occupants, police said. The department did not say how many people were inside or whether anyone had been arrested or charged as of Sunday afternoon.
12News reported that the shooting happened outside a restaurant that has been operating as a nightclub, and that one of the two victims had injuries considered life-threatening. KTAR and AZFamily reported that police had not released an update on the victims’ conditions. Neither victim has been publicly identified.
Bethany Home Road was closed between 35th and 36th avenues while detectives worked the scene, 12News reported. Police described the investigation as active and said the area was restricted.
Investigators have not said what led to the gunfire, whether the people shot knew the occupants of the car, or whether a weapon was recovered. Thee Arizona Times will update this story when Phoenix police release more information, including any booking records.
The shooting is the latest in a run of weekend violence in Phoenix. Early Saturday, police booked a 41-year-old man on a second-degree homicide count after a 58-year-old man was found shot to death inside a vehicle near 19th and Maryland avenues, AZFamily reported. Police are also still looking for an SUV driver who fired at a man near 27th Avenue and Indian School Road around midnight Saturday.
Anyone with information about Sunday’s shooting can contact Phoenix police or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS (480-TESTIGO in Spanish), where tipsters can remain anonymous.
Photo: Matt Popovich via StockSnap (CC0 public domain). Generic photo; not from the scene.