Son of man mistakenly killed by Phoenix police says chief's apology was 'lackluster'

A memorial service for a man mistakenly killed by Phoenix police in late January is scheduled for Tuesday, family said. The police chief recently apologized to the family.

Christian Rendon was killed after disarming a suspect police were called about.

An emergency caller had told police a man was shooting at a house and someone had been wounded. And a witness reportedly told the first arriving officer that children inside a southwest Phoenix home were being shot.

Seeing a struggle, the officer fired one rifle round through an open front door. Officers went inside the home and found two men with gunshot wounds. A third man was detained and taken to a hospital for injuries unrelated to gunfire.

Jarvis Rosas, Rendon’s 21-year old son, called the police chief’s apology lackluster.

“It’s as if they are saying they are sorry for my loss as if they were just another bystander instead of an actual perpetrator that caused it,” Rosas said.

The state Department of Public Safety is investigating. An internal review will follow.

Phoenix police officials say they’ll soon release a video on the shooting.

“Their message or their statement they made said that there is going to be more transparency. But we’ve yet to see anything like that,” Rosas said.