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9 Officers Injured Trying To Save Baby After Man Kills Ex-Girlfriend, Ambushes Cops
Morris Jones killed his ex-girlfriend before opening fire on responding officers in Phoenix. Jones died in the altercation, but police managed to rescue a baby who was at the scene.
A man in Phoenix shot and killed his ex-girlfriend before ambushing police officers who were trying to save a baby left at the doorstep of the home where the bloodshed occurred, leaving nine officers injured, five of whom were hospitalized.
Officers at arrived at the residence around 2 a.m. after receiving a report that a woman had been shot. Video footage captured from the scene shows a man coming out of the house with a baby, placing the child near the front door next to a satchel, and then raising his hands in surrender while stepping away from the house.
When the first officer went up to the doorway to retrieve the baby, the suspected shooter was in the entrance and invited the officer inside, according to a City of Phoenix press release. As the officer was approaching, the perpetrator opened fire, striking the officer multiple times. The officer was able to escape and find cover while a second officer returned fire causing the perpetrator to retreat inside.
Four officers were shot and injured while trying to rescue the baby, according to Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams. The baby girl was taken to safety unharmed as the SWAT team took over, according to the city press release.
The perpetrator, identified as Morris Jones, 36, had barricaded himself inside the house. After police used a camera to get a view inside, they identified Morris and his ex-girlfriend. Both had been shot and were unresponsive — neither of them survived their injuries, the Associated Press reported.
“If I seem upset, I am,” said Williams. “This is senseless, it doesn’t need to happen and it continues to happen over and over again.”
The baby is believed to be the woman and suspect’s child and is now in the custody of the state, according to NPR. The man who initially brought the baby outside sustained no life-threatening injuries and is cooperating with police, reports the Associated Press.
All officers who were injured in the shooting are recovering.
“I cannot recall an incident in city history where so many officers were injured,” said Mayor Kate Gallego in a joint press conference.
“A baby is safe today because of our Phoenix police officers. We are fortunate that in such a horrific incident and with so many injured, all are going to be safe, though many face a very difficult recovery,” the mayor continued.
The Associated Press reports that Morris has a criminal record dating back to 2007 when he was sentenced to seven years in Oklahoma prison for using a firearm in a drug trafficking crime and for possessing a firearm with a federal conviction.
In 2020, Jones pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport, for profit, people who were illegally residing in the country. He was sentenced to three years of probation, which was later revoked in September 2021, at which point he was sentenced to five months in federal, according to The Associated Press.
