Peoria police shoot, kill man near Liberty High School

Kaila White, Arizona Republic
·2 min read

Peoria police shot and killed a man near Liberty High School on Sunday night.

Officers responded to a domestic-violence call around 8:30 p.m. near Lake Pleasant and Beardsley roads, and when they arrived they saw a man get in a vehicle and speed off. Police determined the man had damaged items in the home and was arguing with the woman before leaving, police said in a statement on Monday afternoon.

Another officer saw the vehicle and thought the driver may have been impaired, so the officer tried to stop the vehicle but the man hit a curb and kept driving, according to police.

Officers found the vehicle stopped with a flat tire near Williams Road and 95th Avenue and surrounded the vehicle.

"The suspect got out of the vehicle and started yelling at the officers that he had a gun, didn’t want to live and that they were going to have to shoot him or he was going to shoot himself," according to the Peoria police statement.

Police said the man did not obey commands.

"At one point the suspect reached into the vehicle and emerged from the vehicle in a manner that led officers to believe that he was armed," at least one officer shot him around 9:20 p.m.

The man, later identified as 33-year-old Jerry Lott of Peoria, died. No one else was injured.

Police did not say as of Monday afternoon whether officers recovered a gun from the man's body or vehicle.

The Buckeye Police Department is investigating the shooting, as West Valley police departments have an agreement to investigate each other after officer-involved shootings.

Police in Arizona last year shot at least 80 people, which was four less than in 2020, according to data tracked and analyzed by The Arizona Republic. The slightly lower number, however, was still higher than the yearly average for Arizona since 2011, which is about 75 shootings per year. The state's highest number of police shootings, with more than 100 statewide, happened in 2018.

Services for Arizonans in crisis include:

  • Dial 2-1-1 at any time to reach the free 2-1-1 Arizona information and referral service and connect with free resources available locally throughout the state.

  • Solari Crisis & Human Services offers free crisis lines 24/7/365 – dial 800-631-1314 for Maricopa County and 877-756-4090 for Northern Arizona. Help is also available via text message 2-10 p.m Mon.-Fri. and 8 a.m. - 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun. by texting “hope” to 4HOPE.

  • The National Suicide Prevention Line is available 24/7 at 1-800-273-8255 in English and 1-888-628-9454 in Spanish. It's free and confidential for those in distress who need prevention or crisis resources for themselves or loved ones.

Reach breaking news editor Kaila White at kaila.white@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @kailawhite.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Peoria police shot, killed man near Williams Road, 96th Avenue