A Phoenix man, Garrett Sheppard, is dead and a Peoria Police officer was injured in a shooting that occurred on Monday.
According to Peoria Police Department, at around 4:15 p.m. on May 17, 2021, a Peoria police officer encountered Sheppard in the parking lot of the Shell gas station at 9060 West Northern Avenue.
Police believe that the officer saw a vehicle in the parking lot which displayed a license plate that did not match the vehicle it was displayed on. The officer contacted Sheppard, who had been driving the vehicle, to investigate and a few moments into their interaction, the officer and Sheppard got into a physical confrontation. During the struggle, the officer says he saw Sheppard reach for a handgun. The officer fired at least one round at Sheppard, striking him in the torso. As other officers arrived on the scene, they were able to take the Sheppard into custody and attempt to render aid.
Detectives on the scene recovered the handgun used by Sheppard. The officer involved in this incident was wearing his body-worn camera and did have it activated during this incident.