A Maricopa man is in critical condition Tuesday after an incident that started with him receiving bad news from his wife and ended with him losing control of his car and being shot by a Maricopa police officer, police said.
Police received a “check welfare” call from a house in 36000 block of West Leonessa Avenue about 2:15 p.m., said police spokesman Ricky Alvarado.
Apparently the wife delivered some news the husband did not like, Alvarado said, and he first pulled a gun on himself and then left the home in a newer white Ford Mustang.
Police started searching for the vehicle, locating it on Farrell Road near Hartman Road. Police, Alvarado said, put down a spike strip on Bowlin and White and Parker roads. They called off the chase on Honeycutt Road because school was about to let out.
Just as police were calling off the chase, Alvarado said, the Mustang lost control on Honeycutt Road near Continental Boulevard. Several officers were pursuing the car.
The suspect was shot in the chest and transported to Maricopa Medical Center. Details were sketchy because officers had not yet been debriefed.
Residents who live on Leonessa Avenue said they saw a white Mustang leave a residence on the 36000 block and zip down the street in the afternoon.
“It was nothing but screeches – no real control,” said William Quintin, a Sorrento resident who’s lived on the street for about a year.
Quintin said he’s always heard loud arguments coming from the house where the car left.
“That was just the house that was always making a lot of noise,” he said.
Quintin added he was worried about kids in the area getting hit by the zooming vehicle.
“I don’t wish harm on anybody, but I would have hated to hear that he hit a kid,” he said.
Janice St. Gemme, also a Leonessa Avenue resident, estimated the car was traveling around 80 or 90 mph as it headed down the street.
“In fact, he squealed his tires,” she said.
Resident Ricky Buchanan, who lives across from St. Gemme, also witnessed the scene. Buchanan was washing a car in his driveway during the incident and said he saw the Mustang pass his house twice.
“He took off; he went down the street, turned around went back,” Buchanan said. “About five minutes later, he did it again. Next thing we know, the cops were over there.”
Buchanan added he never met the guy, but he liked his car – a vehicle he described as having a loud engine that he’d often heard traveling down the street.
“That’s sad what happened,” Buchanan said. “He must have had a bad day or something.”
