PHOENIX, AZ — Newly released Phoenix police body camera video shows officers fatally shooting 20-year-old Jonathan Delgado after, police said, he ran toward them while holding a knife. The Sept. 6 encounter unfolded in an alley near 19th Avenue and West Cheryl Drive after Delgado’s family called 911 for help during what they described as a mental health crisis.
The video shows officers telling Delgado they were there to help as they approached the scene. Police said he appeared to be cutting himself and ignored repeated commands to drop the knife. Officers then used a Taser, but he continued moving toward them, according to police. The shooting is now under outside and internal review.
Family call for help brought police to an alley near 19th Avenue and West Cheryl Drive
According to the 911 call, a family member told dispatchers that Delgado was trying to hurt himself and had a knife in an alley. Phoenix police said officers responded around 11 a.m. and found him in the area west of 19th Avenue and north of West Cheryl Drive.
Police said the response included multiple officers, among them one trained to work with people experiencing mental health crises. That detail is important in understanding how the department says the call was handled before it turned deadly. The family’s request for help set the chain of events in motion, but it ended with police gunfire, a death on scene, and grief for those who had called for assistance.
Delgado’s aunt told FOX 10 on the day of the shooting that she regretted calling police. Her reaction underscored how quickly a request for emergency help can become a fatal confrontation when a weapon is involved.
Video shows officers telling Delgado to drop the knife
In the body camera footage, officers can be heard trying to calm the situation. One says, “We’re just here to help you, we’re just trying to help,” as Delgado is seen at a distance, according to police.
Police said the officers kept moving and repeatedly told Delgado to drop the knife. A former Texas police chief and longtime Phoenix police veteran, Jeff Halstead, said the officers were clearly communicating what they were seeing and how they were advancing. He described the verbal commands as direct and consistent with the threat they believed they were facing.
Police said Delgado was holding the knife and appeared to be cutting himself when officers first saw him. The footage then shows him turning and moving toward officers, which sharply changed the encounter from a rescue call into a close-range threat assessment.
Taser did not stop the advance before shots were fired
According to police, officers deployed a Taser, but Delgado did not stop. He then ran toward the officers, and gunshots can be heard in the video as he falls to the ground. Police said two officers fired their weapons and struck him.
Halstead said the open alley gave officers limited cover and little room to change the direction of the threat. He said the distance between the officers and Delgado closed quickly, leaving them with very little time to respond once he started moving toward them.
Halstead told FOX 10 that he watched the video multiple times and believed the situation escalated too fast for a simple resolution. He also said there are no easy answers when a call for help ends in a death like this. The officers later moved toward Delgado to provide first aid, police said.
Phoenix Fire Department pronounced Delgado dead at the scene
After the shots were fired, Delgado dropped the knife, according to police. Officers then approached him and began first aid while Phoenix Fire Department crews responded to the alley. Fire crews pronounced Delgado dead at the scene.
Police said no officers or other community members were injured in the encounter. That detail is notable because the confrontation happened in daylight and involved a moving suspect, multiple officers, and a close-range threat. The department has not indicated that anyone else at the scene was physically harmed.
The death closed out a call that began as a family attempt to get emergency help for a loved one. Instead, the scene ended with one young man dead, officers shaken, and investigators now examining each second of the response.
State and county investigators are reviewing the shooting
Police said the two officers who fired their weapons have five and seven years of service with the Phoenix Police Department. Their identities were not included in the release, and the department has not said whether they remain on duty while the investigation continues.
The shooting is being investigated by the Arizona Department of Public Safety and will also be reviewed by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Phoenix police are conducting an administrative investigation as well, which means the incident will be examined both for possible criminal questions and for whether department policy was followed.
Halstead said the officers, Delgado’s relatives, and others involved will all carry the effects of the shooting. For now, the body camera video provides the clearest account yet of how a mental health crisis call turned into a fatal encounter in a Phoenix alley.