by Tufan Neupane, Cronkite News
October 20, 2025

WASHINGTON – Five months after the Justice Department dismissed Biden-era findings that Phoenix police routinely used excessive force, officer-involved shootings have increased sharply.

The city has seen 11 police shootings since May, averaging more than one per week since Aug. 28, when new Police Chief Matt Giordano was sworn in. 

That’s an annual pace of 26 police shootings – almost double the number in the 12 months after the DOJ issued a scathing report on the Phoenix Police Department in June 2024. 

From then until the Trump administration ended special federal scrutiny last May, the Phoenix Police Department recorded 14 officer-involved shootings – 10 of them fatal, according to the department’s public database.

Since 2013, police have killed 185 people in Phoenix, the nation’s fifth biggest city. 

Only Los Angeles and Houston, which both have more residents, have higher death tolls, according to Mapping Police Violence, a database that tracks deaths attributed to law enforcement.

“Any instance where a police officer shoots someone should be a cause for deep concern and heightened scrutiny,” said Lauren Beall, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona. 

The DOJ’s multi-year investigation exposed serious patterns of brutality and abuse, she said, and by rescinding the findings, the Trump administration “erased a rare opportunity for accountability and meaningful change.”

Poder in Action, a Phoenix-based community advocacy group, also linked the spate of shootings to failed accountability.

“Phoenix police have long been infamous for being the country’s deadliest police force,” said Ben Laughlin, co-director of the group. “They were investigated by the Department of Justice but rejected the findings that detailed the department’s racism, harassment of unsheltered people, and excessive use of force.” 

On Oct. 1, after a half-dozen police shootings in as many weeks, the new chief of police issued a statement acknowledging public concern and outlining several reforms aimed at reducing the use of force.

“We remain committed to continuous improvement … and continue to place a focus on de-escalation strategies and the use of less-lethal options whenever possible,” Giordano said.

Within 24 hours, there were two more shootings. Both incidents are under investigation by the Arizona Department of Public Safety Major Incident Division.

Phoenix police did not respond to detailed questions about this year’s shootings, including whether any officers have been disciplined and whether reviews found that less-lethal options should have been used.

Critics acknowledge that in most or even all of these incidents, officers weren’t acting without provocation but say deadly force could have been avoided with better training and stronger accountability.

In one of the shootings, at around 8 a.m. Oct. 2, officers responded to a home in south Phoenix. According to official accounts, a man later identified as 58-year-old Victor Altamirano yelled at them and threatened them with a knife.

Two officers fired with handguns. Officers also used a 40 mm less-lethal launcher and a pepper-ball launcher. The man was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

The man’s daughter told Arizona Family that relatives called 911 because her father was suicidal and hoped to get him some help. “He wasn’t hostile. He wasn’t irate. He wasn’t threatening anyone else,” she said. 

The incident tracks one of the key concerns outlined in the June 2024 DOJ report, which faulted how Phoenix police handle situations involving mental illness and “people in crisis.”

The report capped a three-year investigation and found “pervasive failings” in “policies, training, supervision, and accountability systems” that had “disguised and perpetuated these violations for years.”

Giordano went to the Altamirano home and again acknowledged public concern about use of force by Phoenix officers. “I’m committed to continuing our training in crisis intervention … and make sure people get the help they need,” he said. 

That evening, there was another shooting. 

Around 7 p.m., officers responded to an attempted armed robbery call at a fast-food restaurant near 16th Street and Buckeye Road.

According to police, the caller reported that a man was stealing from a woman and appeared to have a gun. Officers said the suspect initially followed commands to lie on the ground but stood up suddenly, prompting an officer to fire his weapon. 

The man was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. 

No gun was found.

The following week, Phoenix police were involved in two more shootings on consecutive nights. 

On Oct. 10, an officer shot and critically injured a suspect during a car chase. Officers said the suspect fired at them first.

On Oct. 11, officers shot and killed Francisco Aviles Barcenas, 47, who they said was holding a knife to a woman’s throat.

The department recorded 21 officer-involved shootings in 2017 and 44 in 2018 – a record. There were 25 in 2023 and 20 last year.

Last Wednesday, the Phoenix City Council approved a $1.2 million wrongful death settlement over a 2019 police shooting. In that incident, police searching for a kidnapping suspect shot a bystander, Henry Rivera, 30. 

Councilwoman Anna Hernandez, who has spoken publicly about losing her brother to police violence, called the killing a “huge tragedy” that officers could have avoided by taking more time to identify the person they were pursuing. 

Giordano assured the council that he has met with precinct commanders and other leaders to set clear expectations, emphasizing the need to improve communication and seek less-lethal options when dealing with suspects. 

“We are always going to look for ways to improve. We’ll continue to work,” he said.

Hernandez expressed skepticism, noting that officers have received plenty of training already.

After the report was issued in June 2024, Arizona officials from both parties accused the department of overstepping its authority over local law enforcement.

Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat then serving in the U.S. House, asserted in a letter to a top DOJ official that its demands would impose “overly burdensome costs.” 

The Arizona Police Association railed against the oversight and report.

Soon after President Donald Trump returned to office in January, Republicans stepped up their lobbying about the DOJ findings. 

In April, state Senate President Warren Petersen decried the “host of biased and inaccurate findings.” Maricopa County Supervisor Thomas Galvin told Attorney General Pam Bondi that “DOJ’s early moves against Phoenix were the prior administration’s attempt to impose its political will.” 

Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Scottsdale, denounced what he called the “Biden DOJ’s baseless claims” against Phoenix police, saying “our officers did everything right.”

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell also rejected the report, calling it “a politically driven document prepared by a federal agency focused on undermining local law enforcement.”

On May 21, Bondi withdrew the findings in Phoenix and similar findings of police abuse in Louisville, Ky.; Minneapolis; Trenton, N.J.; Memphis; Mount Vernon, N.Y.; Oklahoma City and Louisiana.

The Trump DOJ said the earlier findings were based on “flawed methodologies and incomplete data” and argued that consent decrees proposed under President Joe Biden entailed unnecessary costs and oversight.

Phoenix leaders have long acknowledged room for improvement in the use of force, though.

In January 2024, the city released a plan titled Road to Reform that outlined new use-of-force policies, calling for expanded use of body cameras and creation of a Crisis Intervention Team and Community Assistance Program. 

Four weeks after Trump returned to the White House, the department formally adopted a new use-of-force policy. That policy states that officers “shall use only the force that is objectively reasonable, necessary, and proportional to effectively and safely resolve an incident.”

Several months passed without any officer-involved shootings, though it’s typical for the numbers to fluctuate. 

Since the recent spike began, Phoenix police have been seeking community feedback on five revised policies. 

Giordano has promised department-wide refresher training on tactics and communication; a new review process after each incident; and expanded access to less-lethal tools such as Tasers and pepper-ball launchers.

Laughlin, co-director of Poder in Action, said the latest pledges to beef up training and oversight are not enough, given the way city officials resisted reforms demanded by the DOJ long enough for the Trump administration to withdraw the report.

“The measures named in Chief Giordano’s statement are meaningless. He knows it,” Laughlin said.

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