Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

Chandler mall shooting: Arrest not of sought fugitive (http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/articles/2011/01/05/20110105chandler-mall-robbery-shooting05-ON.html)

Link above. Synopsis below

Basically, USM Fugitive Task Force is looking for a fugitive named Daniel Perez that shot at State Patrol officers last month. He was captured in Pinal County after the shooting but treated in Maricopa County for injuries. During the transfer between Pinal and Maricopa jails there was an error in holding instructions/warrant/whatever and he was released inadvertantly. Task force has been tracking for a bit. They confronted what they believed to be the fugitive in the parking lot of a valley mall. He shot at the task force and fled into the mall. Standoff ensued where everyone brought out all the toys.

A suspect surrendered after a few hours. But it's not the fugitive that they were looking for. Task force is still searching.

Update: They arrested a second suspect in Sears that may be Perez (the fugitive they were looking for).

http://i.azcentral.com/commphoto_images/commphotos/4/4/0/440687.jpg

For switch. Not sure if these are USM.

EDIT *They are Arizona DPS*

I just watched this on the news tonight... people are so crazy now, it's getting worse with the economy I also seen on the news where a man was shot over groceries that's really sad... scary to think what tomorrow will bring

http://i.azcentral.com/commphoto_images/commphotos/4/4/0/440687.jpg

For switch. Not sure if these are USM.

SNIPER MUCH?? :D

there is noway i would be up there stretched out with a bazooka...lol they mean some serious butt kicking business...

And a;pparently the press got it wrong. Nothing avalilable on second arrest.

Now I think these are USM guys. Blue jeans giving it away. Heading to Starbucks for a post action latte gives them away too. :)

Chandler, Tempe, and MCSO all had their SWAT teams out there. Weather was good, so I think everyone was coming to the 998 call to gear up. The person arrested had just committed an armed robbery and was confronted by the task force that was in the area. Not clear if the task force was looking for this person or if it was just happenstance. The robber shot at task force members, fled into the mall, escaped from the mall and made it about a half mile away to a baja fresh where he took hostages. Police and swat teams needed to clear the mall and also deal with the hostage situation at the baja fresh. I don't think it was clear that these incidents were by the same person so that's why the response was so huge. Clearing and locking down a mall seems to be quite an undertaking.

I think I even saw Pinal ocunty deputies in some of the footage. BATFE was there too. Good to see a lot of patrol officers brought rifles.

http://i.azcentral.com/commphoto_images/commphotos/4/4/0/440719.jpg

more. Not sure who the guys in the previous photo are with the green tac gear.

http://i.azcentral.com/commphotos/view/440693.jpg

If you listen closely, you can hear "hut hut hut hut hut".

http://i.azcentral.com/commphotos/view/440770.jpg

This ford looks normal from the front but has a hatch access on the rear.
http://i.azcentral.com/commphotos/view/440764.jpg

Didn't realize Tempe had two armored vehicles.
http://i.azcentral.com/commphotos/view/440730.jpg

Tempe gears up. Interesting that the photo is a picture of Daniel Perez but it isn't the guy they got.
http://i.azcentral.com/commphotos/view/440715.jpg

MCSO Swat. They already did a call that morning.
http://i.azcentral.com/commphotos/view/440763.jpg

Mesa. They might have been the green/blue jeans people.
http://i.azcentral.com/commphotos/view/440683.jpg

wow.. those are some really good photos!

I was also thinking wow that is some AWESOME response, even if it was two different people here the response would not be as great, they did an outstanding job, I was impressed...

this is kind of off topic but it deals with shopping and a weirdo...
one day I was shopping and this guy kept following me and he made it obvious that he was stalking me so I went to the front of the store reported him gave the description while I was giving the description the lady behind me spoke up and said that she was there two hours prior and he did the SAME thing to her......
so they find the guy and banned him from the store two days later he is back in there needless to say this time he did'nt look twice my way, the system here is VERY lax....... it's better to go overboard then basically do nothing at all IMO.

They are news photos from various sources. I am not that close or curious to actually go and take those.

I think you would be surprised at the response. They were going after a fugitive wanted for attempted murder of a police officer and the call was officer involved shooting. Everyone is coming and they are coming heavy for that call. Every dispatcher in the near vicinity would have sent out a 998 hot tone. Possibly even a 999.

Did the police witness the trespass warning? Usually the police here will witness the person being told not to come back and they inform him that if he does, it's trespassing and he'll be arrested. They arrest on the second call (sometimes they refuse to leave after the first warning and they would be arrested then) .

Update at below link. Clears up confusion and adds details about the shooting aspect.

Chandler mall shooting: Fleeing suspect taunted officers (http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/articles/2011/01/06/20110106chandler-mall-shooting-chase-standoff-details-abrk.html)

Some snippets.

The U.S. Marshals Task Force was looking for a suspect who had committed several armed robberies in the East Valley utilizing a stolen Kia SUV.

Officers located a car that matched the suspect vehicle at a Mesa apartment complex and followed it to Chandler Fashion Center located at Chandler Boulevard and Loop 101 around noon.

The officers confronted the driver, later identified as Adam Hernandez, 27, outside the mall.

Police initially mistook him for fugitive Daniel Perez, wanted for shooting at Department of Public Safety officers in Casa Grande on Dec. 10.

After detectives approached Hernandez in the mall parking lot, he left his vehicle and headed for the mall, As detectives attempted to contact him, he ran into a store, through the mall and then back into the parking lot.

As he continued to run with officers running after him, another detective drove toward him to try to take him into custody. He turned and fired several shots toward the police vehicle. Bullets went through the side window and side mirror, as well as the roof just above the windshield.

The officer returned fire through the windshield of his vehicle. Another detective was on foot at the time of the initial shots and Hernandez then fire rounds at the officer on foot.

He ran north from the mall and crossed Chandler Boulevard. Detectives saw Hernandez attempt to flag down vehicles as he ran. He then entered the Baja Fresh.

While in the restaurant he located a key to the safe and removed a large amount of money, according to the records. One of four employees in the store and all the customers escaped. He held two cashiers hostage as a third employee hid inside the store, the report says.

I don't think a trespassing warrant was issued but I'm not sure.

I could not imagine sitting down eating lunch and this whacko comes in and robs the place....i try not to dwindle at such places for too long I'm in and out and I never make eye contact with people, people are CRAZY! I'm always scared someone will come bomb where I work b/c of the type of patients we have , once a guy threatened us the very next morning a loaded gun not on safety was found in a brown paper bag in the bathroom on the wing that I was working, we had to call the police the higher ups never told us what become of the situation...I personally think someone had every intention of using it and possibly chickened out, I have seen more then my share of every dysfunctional individual there is to not be in law enforcement.