On the morning of Oct. 2, Phoenix police officers shot and killed Victor Altamirano outside his South Phoenix home. According to a media advisory issued by police that afternoon, officers shot Altamirano after he expressed suicidal thoughts and ran at police with a knife brandished over his head.
While that sequence of events is factual, body-worn camera footage released by the department on Thursday showed that Phoenix police’s initial advisory left out some important details. Chief among them was that Altamirano was not shot as he charged an officer with a knife but was instead fired upon from what appeared to be 40-50 feet away. When an officer fired what apparently were the fatal shots — again, from a significant distance — Altamirano seemed to be limping away from police and posing no immediate threat. Roughly 50 seconds had passed since he charged an officer.
The 58-year-old Altamirano later died at Banner Good Samaritan Hospital. He was the ninth person killed by Phoenix police this year; a tenth was killed on Oct. 11. Last year, Phoenix officers shot and killed 14 people, an increase from 12 in 2023 and 10 in 2022. Phoenix cops have also been involved in several non-fatal shootings this year, including one later on the day they killed Altamirano…