PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Edited body-camera footage released Friday shows the moments leading up to and when a police officer shot an armed man in a north Phoenix neighborhood earlier this month who later died from his injuries.
The shooting happened on Dec. 7 when a person called 911 to report that a man, later identified as 75-year-old Michael Breuer, was armed with a handgun near 7th Avenue and Beardsley Road, just north of Loop 101. Phoenix Police said Breuer lived in the neighborhood.
“There’s a guy with a gun out front,” said the 911 caller in the clip. “He’s just out there, and he’s got a weapon,”
Investigators later determined it was Breuer himself who called the police.
The emergency dispatcher asked if the man was trying to hurt or fight someone, but he said he wasn’t at first. But a few minutes later, police said Breuer reached back out to police to say the suspect was now threatening to shoot someone.
Moments later, officers arrived and began searching for Breuer with the help of the police helicopter. One officer spotted him, and at that point, the officer took cover behind their police vehicle and started demanding that he drop the weapon, authorities said.
The clip, which doesn’t include audio, begins with the officer behind his patrol vehicle before they shoot at Breuer, who then falls onto the front yard of the home.
Police said Breuer refused to drop the gun and walked toward the officer while raising his gun, which prompted that officer to shoot again. At that point, he was on the ground, injured, but kept holding onto the gun.
While Breuer was sitting on the ground, police said he raised the gun at the officer’s direction, and that’s when the officer again shot him. A neighbor captured a few seconds of video after the shooting occurred, which was included in the critical incident briefing, which simply showed Breuer hurt on the ground.
First responders rushed Breuer to the hospital, where he later died. After the shooting, police said they recovered Breuer’s gun.
Phoenix PD said this was the gun recovered after the shooting.(Phoenix Police Department)
No one else was hurt.
Detectives haven’t said what prompted Breuer to call 911.
The officer involved was assigned to the Black Mountain Precinct and had nine years of service with the Phoenix Police Department.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety is still investigating and will be reviewed by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. An internal investigation is also underway by Phoenix PD.
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