Chandler police provide additional details on officer-involved shootings

INDEPENDENT NEWS MEDIA

Chandler Police have provided an update on an incident that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th.

In a news release, the department said officers shot 45-year-old Ruben Alejandro Felix Lopez after he chased officers with knives.

The news release said officers were called to a home in the 300 block of Los Feliz Drive, near Ray Road and McClintock Drive, for a domestic violence call. Upon arrival, police said officers were told by “a homeowner” that a man who did not live at the home was in the backyard and was acting “erratically.”

Officers entered the backyard through a side gate and were immediately confronted by a man who had two “large knives,” the statement said. The man then made threatening gestures towards the officers, the police said.

Officers then spent the next 30 minutes trying to de-escalate the man, the report said.

Police used several less-lethal devices to force the man to comply with officers’ commands. However, these were unsuccessful, it was said.

When the man attacked the officers “aggressively” with knives, three officers opened fire, police said.

Officers then provided medical assistance. The Chandler Fire Department later pronounced Lopez dead at the scene, police said.

Police said no officers were injured and there was no threat to the community. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.

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