Until mid-August, 2025 was looking like a year in which the Phoenix Police Department might finally turn things around. After police killed four people in the first two months of the year — including one who was hit in the heart by a “less-lethal” weapon — there were no fatal police shootings for six months.
Since then, though, it’s been the same old song and dance. Phoenix police shot and killed six people in a 54-day span between Aug. 19 and Oct. 11, putting the department on pace to match its 2023 total of 12 police killings. Last year, Phoenix police shot and killed 14 people.
Since 2013, the Phoenix Police Department has been the second-deadliest in the nation, killing at least 173 people…