DPS report on Chandler Mall Shooting / Baja Fresh stand-off
We urge the public to avoid this area. Furthermore, the southbound Loop 101 exit for Chandler Boulevard has been closed.
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."
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."
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