Suspect identified in Chandler Mall shootout

Chandler Police identified the suspect in a shootout and standoff in Chandler Wednesday, January 6 as Adam Hernandez.

No one was injured in the two separate shootouts, one at the Sears Store in the Chandler Mall, and the other at Baja Fresh, a nearby restaurant. The standoff lasted nearly five hours and started just before noon.

Multiple law enforcement agencies were at the scene which began when U.S. Marshals engaged in a confrontation with the suspect they believed to be fugitive Daniel Perez, mistakenly released from jail on December 16.

Police later learned that Hernandez and Perez had been cell mates in state prison in 2009.

After the initial shootout at the Sears Store, officers chased Hernandez, but he escaped and went across the street to the Baja Fresh, holding three workers there hostage while negotiators with the SWAT Team kept in contact with him.

The Chandler Mall was kept in lockdown after most of the people inside were evacuated. After Hernandez turned himself in, the mall continued to be in lockdown while officers and K-9 units searched for a possible second suspect.

No one else was found to be involved in the incident and Hernandez was taken into custody. He faces numerous charges.

The Chandler Mall re-opened at 4:30 p.m.

Latest information from DPS on Chandler Mall shoot-out

DPS report on Chandler Mall Shooting / Baja Fresh stand-off

Just before noon on Wednesday, January, 5, the U.S. Marshals Wanted Violent Offender Task Force which includes the Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZ DPS) confronted a suspect believed to be Daniel Perez, in the parking lot outside the Sears store on the west side of the Chandler Fashion Mall. 

Perez was involved in a shooting with AZ DPS Highway Patrol Officers on Dec. 10th, and wanted in connection with that incident. 

The suspect fired on members of the task force and they returned fire in the parking lot.  The suspect entered the Sears store and the Mall was subsequently evacuated and surrounded by area law enforcement officers. 

At about 12:30 PM, there was a report of shots fired and a hostage situation inside of the Baja Fresh, just north of the Chandler Fashion Mall. Area SWAT Teams including those from AZ DPS and Mesa Police responded to the Baja Fresh.  Contact has been made with the suspect inside Baja Fresh, but it remains unclear whether or not that subject is the original suspect from the shooting or a separate incident altogether. 

Teams are still working to clear the Chandler Fashion Mall as well as work the situation inside of the Baja Fresh. Neither AZ DPS nor the U.S. Marshals Office can confirm if the suspect involved in either incident is in fact Daniel Perez.   

We urge the public to avoid this area.  Furthermore, the southbound Loop 101 exit for Chandler Boulevard has been closed.

(The above DPS report was sent at 3:03 p.m.)

At 4 p.m., a public information officer with the Chandler Police Department told reporters that the suspect taken into custody at the Baja Fresh was not Perez, but did not identify the individual taken into custody. Although two people were in the Baja Fresh with the suspect, Chandler Police are not confirming that they were hostages.


No one was injured in the exchange of the initial gunfire and the suspect was taken without incident. The Chandler Mall remains in lockdown while officers and K-9 units confirm that no other suspects are at large. "This is far from over," the Chandler Police officer said. "We don't know at this point if there's a suspect in that mall."