- A man shot dead a woman and her two children, aged 11 and 10 months, at an upscale apartment complex in Phoenix
- The names of the suspect and victims are not being released at this time, but police say that the man and woman did have a relationship
- Police arreived to find the woman dead in the parking lot just ebfore 4pm and the man then barricaded himself inside an apartment with the children
A woman and her two children are dead and a police officer injured after a Christmas day shooting in Arizona.
The Phoenix Police Department responded to reports of a shooting at an upscale apartment complex just before 4pm on Monday, arriving to find a woman dead in the parking lot.
Officers then discovered that the suspect had barricaded himself inside an apartment with two children, ages 11 and 10 months, who he later shot dead.
Police: A man shot dead a woman and her two children, aged 11 and 10 months, at an upscale apartment complex in Phoenix
The identity of the man and the victims have not yet been released by authorities, but according to police the shooter did have a relationship with his female victim.
A six-hour standoff followed as police tried to rescue the two children in the event that they were still alive.
When it was determined that they were dead, police entered the apartment and captured the man alive.
An officer who was injured as police entered the apartment was taken to a nearby hospital and is in stable condition.
Fox 10 was on the scene for the shootout, with officers shutting down the complex and later evacuating residents.
At around 7:30pm they also shut off power before going into the apartment while fending off gunfire from the suspect.
Prior to that officers had spent hours trying to talk to the man in hopes that eh would release the two children if they were in fact still alive.