Shocking body camera footage shows the moment that a career criminal who had just killed the mother of his baby ambushed a Phoenix cop, sending him running for backup, before he injured eight more cops then died of a gunshot wound.
'Come on. Come on,' shooter Morris Jones, 36, can be heard shouting to the officer from a doorstep around 2 a.m. in the area of 54th Avenue and Elwood Street.
'She's choking on her own blood. Come on, bro.' His attempt to lure the cop inside was successful, with Jones opening fire at the officer moments later and striking him with a bullet, seriously injuring him.
Police responded to the address after a caller told a 911 operator that a woman, later identified as 29-year-old Shatifah Lobley, had been shot by an intruder and there were multiple armed suspects in the house.
The officer approaches the man, asking 'who's all in the house?'
'Just me,' Jones replied before he steps forward and rapidly fires five shots at the officer.
Jones then barricaded himself in the house, standing off with officers for five hours, shooting four more cops and injuring another four with shrapnel.
Although his motive in the killing is not yet known, the Crips gang member had been scheduled for a psychological evaluation on the Tuesday after the Friday incident by his current wife - another woman.
He succumbed to a gunshot wound at the scene - it is not immediately clear whether it was self-inflicted or if he was shot in crossfire with responding police.
Morris Jones, 36 (left) stood off with police for five hours after he shot dead Shatifah Lobley, 29, (right) the mother of his one-month-old baby
Morris Jones can be heard beckoning the officer to the front door of the Phoenix home in the footage from early Friday morning, telling him to 'come on' and that 'she's choking on her own blood'
The officer approaches the man, asking 'who's all in the house?' 'Just me,' Jones replied before he steps forward and rapidly fires five shots at the officer
The officer's screams can be heard as he falls down onto the sidewalk, then runs for cover as he radios for backup, shouting '999! 999!' - code for an officer down or in need of immediate assistance. 'I’ve been shot!' he yells
The unnamed officer was hit several times, and could not return fire after sustaining severe gunshot injuries to his right arm, according to the Phoenix Police Department.
The officer's screams can be heard as he falls down onto the sidewalk, then runs for cover as he radios for backup, shouting '999! 999!' - code for an officer down or in need of immediate assistance. 'I’ve been shot!' he yells.
Meanwhile, a second officer fired shots at Morris, sending him back into the home.
Other officers arrived and send up a perimeter around the home, according to 12News. Jones fired more shots from inside at those officers, police said.
Then, he allegedly got into a vehicle parked in the garage and tried ramming a patrol car blocking the driveway to escape, but pulled back into the garage and ran back inside when he was unsuccessful, police said.
Officers are pictured at the scene during Jones' five-hour standoff with police
At one point, a man later identified as Lobley's brother (pictured) who lived in the home walked into the doorway holding his sister's one-month-old baby in one arm and holding his other hand in the air
He places the baby on the porch, along with a pink bag
The man raises his hands in the air. This scene played out after a Phoenix police officer was shot multiple times and critically wounded
Officers ordered the man to put the baby down and walk backwards toward them, which he did. He was injured in the shootout, but is recovering, police said
Officers tried to retrieve the baby and bring it to safety
But Jones opened fire again, hitting four officers with bullets and injuring four more with bullet fragments and ricochets
At one point, a man later identified as Lobley's brother who lived in the home walked into the doorway holding his sister's one-month-old baby in one arm and holding his other hand in the air.
Officers ordered the man to put the baby down and walk backwards toward them, which he did. He was injured in the shootout, but is recovering, police said.
When officers tried to retrieve the baby and bring it to safety, Jones opened fire again, hitting four officers with bullets and injuring four more with bullet fragments and ricochets. One of the officers returned fire.
Using ballistic shields as Jones fired upon them, Special Assignments Unit officers managed to rescue the infant, police said.
Miraculously, the child was uninjured, and is currently in DCS custody. Police have confirmed that the baby is Jones and Lobley's.
When Jones stopped responding to officers around 7 a.m., they used a camera to look inside the home, and saw that he and his ex-girlfriend, Lobley, had been shot dead.
It is unclear whether Jones died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds or if he was injured in the shootout with police.
An injured Phoenix officer is assisted by fellow cops at the scene on Friday. The officers are recovering from their injuries and the initial responding officer was more seriously hurt
Another wounded officer is aided by fellow police at the scene
Police are seen tending to one of the nine officers wounded in the Friday standoff. Three of the officers were still hospitalized as of Saturday afternoon, but all have since been released
Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said the officers are recovering from their injuries and the initial responding officer was more seriously hurt, but is also recovering with non-life-threatening injuries.
Three of the officers were still hospitalized as of Saturday afternoon, but all have since been released.
'A miracle — that we had that many people actually struck by gunfire and all of them are out of the hospital … less than a week later,' police precinct commander Derek Elmore told Arizona Republic.
DailyMail.com could not reach the Phoenix Police Department for an update on their condition, or to determine whether Jones' fatal gunshot wound was self-inflicted.
The officers who responded to the Friday incident have between two and 19 years of experience, Williams said at a Friday press conference.
'This has to stop,' Williams said at the conference.
'I am I'm incredibly proud of our officers and I am proud to serve the community.'
Mayor Kate Gallego praised the cops at the press event, saying that 'a baby is safe today because of our officers.'
'To every officer on the team, I say thank you.'
While some residents were evacuated from their homes during the standoff, some were told to remain inside.
Mayor Kate Gallego (left) praised the cops at the press event, saying that 'a baby is safe today because of our officers.' Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams (right) said 'this has to stop' at a Friday press conference
'The cops had come and told us to stay inside because there’s an active situation and they were going to deploy tear gas,' said Elizabeth Venegas. 'To stay inside and don’t go anywhere.'
Neighbors told outlets they heard 30 to 40 gunshots during the five-hour period.
'When you’re asleep and that wakes up, you don’t know if you’re dreaming or if it’s really happening,' Elisa Esquer told 12News.
'After I heard the second one, I said ‘no this is something else, is something serious’ and at that point, I [could] hear the shooting.'
'It was so close, the projectiles,” said another neighbor, Austin Michaels. 'I could almost feel the air coming off of them when they fly over you.'
'I think about the family of the gal that got shot, and that child,' Michaels said. 'I just don’t have an answer, it’s tough.'
After the incident, Venegas said, she had a frank conversation with her children.
'I’m just honest and tell him don’t ever play with guns,' said Venegas. 'Police do their job, you have to be nice to them too, they are not all bad.'
Jones, a member of the Hoover Crips with their '107' insignia tattooed on his arm, was a career criminal.
In 2004, he served a year of a three-year prison sentence on a stolen vehicle charge, according to Arizona Republic. Then, Jones confessed to trading crack for a rifle and a handgun in Tulsa, earning another stint in federal prison.
The next year, Jones fled from police during a raid on a house in Tulsa, with officers catching him ditching a baggie of marijuana. Also that year, he was the victim of a drive-by shooting, but refused to cooperate with investigating police.
He fled from police three times in 2006 - in one incident, the car slowed down enough for a 12-year-old passenger to hop out. The child was in possession of cocaine and a gun, which he said Jones gave to him.
In another incident, Jones jumped from the window the vehicle he was driving and got away - his passenger told police he had been in possession of a semi-automatic handgun.
But he didn't get away the third time he fled police that year.
Federal agents went to his apartment to execute a search warrant, looking for guns and drugs. Inside the apartment, they found a .22 caliber revolver and a cache of bullets for various weapons.
This time, police followed in a helicopter when Jones fled in his car. He ditched a loaded gun before officers caught up with him, and resisted arrest. Ultimately, officers pepper sprayed him. He was charged as a felon in possession of a firearm.
He stayed in prison until 2014, when he was briefly released on probation before he was sentenced to four years in 2016 for a drug charge and later released in 2019.
According to ATF Agent Josh Petree, Jones often went by the nickname his grandfather devised for him: 'Petey Gun.'
'Jones further advised that he had obtained his nickname (Petey Gunn) from his grandfather when he was young and that he has always liked and had guns even though he knew he was a convicted felon and was not supposed to have them,' Petree wrote.
Jones and Lobley were reportedly arrested together by Border Patrol agents in 2020 for helping undocumented immigrants enter the United States at the Arizona border - the pair pleaded guilty.
The two were stopped in their Ford F-150 near San Simon in Cochise County - three passengers in the back seat told agents they were from Mexico and Peru.
In addition to the one-month-old infant, Jones fathered four children, now approximately 7, 9, 15 and 18 years old, according to Arizona Republic.
A woman who identified herself as the shooter's mother-in-law told the outlet that her daughter, another woman, and Jones had been married for about two years.
Shown is the scene near the stand-off, where police maintained a presence into the next day
A large police presence was still at the home the next day after the incident
Jones' current wife had scheduled an appointment for a mental health evaluation for Jones for this past Tuesday, she said.
'She recognized it as life became harder for him, she recognized, "You know what, this is an issue, this is a problem. We need to fix this,"' the woman said.
'I’m not trying to whitewash what he’s done, because everybody knows that this is horrific,' she added.
She said that she believes mental health intervention could have helped Jones.
'His mind process at that time, his mind space at that time, and where he was at that time you know? What I’m saying is what was going on through his mind, you know what I’m saying, that he came down to, "This is how it’s going to end for me,"' she said.
She said that her daughter, Jones' current wife, did not condone the shooter's actions, and asked that the community 'send prayers out to her... so that she knows she has some support.'
'A lot of lives have been affected by what has happened,' she told 12News.
Senator Krysten Sinema, a Democrat from Arizona, tweeted about the shooting on Friday.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat from Arizona, also weighed in on the shooting
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey tweeted about the Phoenix shooting on Friday
'Horrified by this violence against law enforcement working to keep our communities safe,' she wrote. 'We're thinking of everyone injured and hoping for full recoveries as we wait for more information.'
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, a Republican, also addressed Friday's standoff, tweeting: 'Please continue to pray for the five officers injured this morning. Our men and women in blue work day and night—no matter the circumstances—to protect our state from danger. Their unwavering courage & sacrifice helps to keep us safe. Arizona is deeply grateful.'
Post a Comment