Mesa Officer Injured Suspect Dead After Standoff Shooting

Early Wednesday morning in Mesa, a police confrontation with a suspect following a trespassing call escalated into a shooting, leaving one officer injured and the suspect dead. Officers used a Grappler device to stop the suspect's vehicle and deployed less-lethal weapons during a standoff after the suspect refused to comply and fired at police from inside his car. The injured officer was hospitalized in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries. After additional attempts to de-escalate, a gunshot was heard from the suspect's vehicle before he was found deceased at the scene; it remains unclear if the suspect was killed by police or took his own life. The incident marks the 39th officer-involved shooting in Maricopa County this year and is under investigation by the Gilbert Police Department's East Valley Critical Incident Response Team. Authorities have not released the suspect's identity, describing him as a 34-year-old male, and urged those struggling with crisis to seek help through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.