Man Fatally Shoots Pet Dogs, Himself Inside Apartment Following Argument With Ex-Girlfriend

A man from Phoenix, Arizona, fatally shot his pet dogs and himself inside his apartment after a fight with his ex-girlfriend. The armed man barricaded himself inside the apartment causing a three-hour-long standoff.

The Phoenix police department spokesman, Sgt. Tommy Thompson reported that the incident was a result of an escalated dispute between a 30-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man in an apartment near 7th Street and Greenway Park on Saturday at around 12.30 p.m. local time (3.30 p.m. EDT).

A witness to the incident, Eric Mace, confirmed that he first saw a half-naked lady running out of an apartment yelling, “Call the police, call the police”, followed by a half-naked man. Mace added that the man was unable to catch her and came back to the apartment. “Right then, I heard 5 gunshots… 5 or 6 gunshots,” he said.

As officers reached the location, the man started shooting at police vehicles and personnel. Sgt. Thompson assured that no one was hurt during the incident but one of the patrol cars was “Shot full of holes”. The cops carried on negotiations with the man for almost three hours before forcefully entering the apartment. The officers found the man had killed himself along with two pet dogs in the house. During the negotiation, the man had repeatedly asked by the policemen to shoot him dead.

There were no bullets fired by the police officers, Sgt. Thompson added. The police also confirmed that the woman who ran from the apartment was the unidentified suspect’s ex-girlfriend. She was declared safe and uninjured.