On Wednesday, at around 7:30 a.m., the driver and sole occupant of a pickup truck stolen out of Mesa, 24-year-old Jaime Longoria Valenzuela, was involved in a head-on collision on 83rd Avenue between West Sweetwater Avenue and Thunderbird Road. Valenzuela was driving northbound in the southbound lanes.
The collision involved four vehicles, and one driver was transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Valenzuela fled the scene of the accident on foot, and officers in the area quickly located him in the neighborhood of 80th Drive and West Wacker Road. As the officer approached Valenzuela, he pointed a handgun at the officer and took off running. As Valenzuela ran through multiple back yards in the area of 80th Drive and Thunderbird Road, several officers encountered him and shots were exchanged. It appears that one of the officers’ shots hit Valenzuela in the leg.
Additional officers and paramedics responded, and Valenzuela was transported by ground to a local hospital with a non-life threatening gunshot wound to his leg. Thankfully, no citizens and no officers were injured during the incident.
Although no students were involved and the incident did not happen on school grounds, due to the proximity of these events to Centennial High School, the school was briefly placed on lock-down as a precaution until the subject was detained.
Over the course of this incident, our partners with the Department of Public Safety and Glendale Police Department assisted with traffic direction and handling some calls for service.
Valenzuela has been released from the hospital. He will be transported to the 4th Avenue Jail. Preliminary charges will include several aggravated assault charges, stolen vehicle, and leaving the scene of an accident. These charges are preliminary and may be changed or amended.