‘I have a gun’: Man shot, killed by police at Walmart in Arizona

SURPRISE, Ariz. (KPHO/Gray News) - Authorities in Arizona say a man is dead after a shooting involving officers occurred at a Walmart parking lot Tuesday afternoon.

KPHO reports that Surprise police were called about an unwanted guest in a Walmart parking around 12:30 p.m.

According to the Surprise Police Department, officers arrived and found a man sitting in the backseat of a car with the door open. They tried to talk to him, but police said he was yelling and being argumentative.

Officers said they asked the man to get out of the vehicle and that’s when he yelled, “I have a gun.” Surprise police said he then reached under a pile of personal items, and they fired at him.

“It was a combination of him yelling, ‘I have a gun,’ and making a furtive gesture under those items towards his waistband and that’s when this [the shooting] happened,” said Jamie Rothschild, public information officer for Surprise police.

According to officials, the man died at the scene and no officers were hurt in the shooting.

The department said it did not immediately know who initially made the 911 call or what weapon the man may have had as the investigation remains ongoing.

Tuesday’s shooting was the 19th shooting involving police in Maricopa County and the 25th in the state so far this year.

Copyright 2023 KPHO via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.