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Phoenix Police Report Details ICE Shooting In Ahwatukee

Shooting In Ahwatukee
Sky Schaudt/KJZZ
Authorities say federal agents were involved in a shooting in southeast Phoenix in 2019.

A suspect wanted for human smuggling used an AK-47 to open fire on an elite team of federal agents as they  tried to arrest him in April in the quiet suburb of Ahwatukee, according to a report by the Phoenix Police Department obtained through a public records request.

The agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations returned fire but did not know a 17-year-old Mexican girl, her uncle and a woman were riding in the back seat of the suspect vehicle, the report says.

Phoenix police investigated the officer involved shooting.

The special team of ICE agents had been tapped to arrest Warren Evan Jose, who the Phoenix police report says has a criminal history and was considered dangerous. The agents planned to take the 35-year-old into custody at a hotel. But the Chevrolet Trailblazer he was riding in turned the opposite direction when it exited westbound Interstate 10.

Unmarked ICE vehicles followed the Chevy into Ahwatukee. The report says the agents changed their plan to arrest Jose. They instead turned on their lights, surrounded the Chevy as it was moving and tried to make it stop.

But the Chevy rammed one of the law-enforcement vehicles off the road, causing it to crash into a tree and wall. Then the Chevy spun around and another ICE vehicle rammed its front, the report says.

A recap of the incident written by Phoenix police says Jose opened fire on the federal agents, who shot back.

The driver of the Chevy was killed, the report says. Jose and another passenger were wounded.

Jose later told investigators that he thought the agents were bandits trying to steal his human cargo, according to the report.

ICE spokesperson Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe emailed a written statement: “Due to the fact that this is still an ongoing investigation, we are unable to comment at this time.” 

Matthew Casey has won Edward R. Murrow awards for hard news and sports reporting since he joined KJZZ as a senior field correspondent in 2015.