A suspect is dead after a U.S. Marshal shot them following a chase through the Valley.
It started as a shoplifting call in Mesa and ended near Sky Harbor Airport where the suspect was killed.
Marshals Service says their role was to ‘provide support’
The U.S. Marshals Service said the suspect stole power tools from a Home Depot in east Mesa and pulled a knife on a loss prevention officer before taking off.
The agency said the suspect led law enforcement on a chase through the Valley ending near Sky Harbor Airport.
That’s where the Marshals said he used a car to push into a marshal’s car. The marshal was outside of the vehicle, according to the agency, when they shot and killed the suspect.
The agency won’t release the name of the suspect, which local department asked them to help or why.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service said in an email, “Our role simply became to provide support in apprehending an armed subject, while working a different case in the area.”
The spokesperson pointed to an investigation to be completed by the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Lack of accountability with the Marshals isn’t new
Simone Weichselbaum, a reporter with The Marshall Project, who investigated the U.S. Marshals Service for more than a year, built a database of incidents from across the country.
“It’s unfortunate when we did our project, Arizona led in our database that your state, unfortunately, had the most shooting,” Weichselbaum said.
Weichselbaum added that when hearing of this most recent shooting in Arizona, her thought went to why the agency was involved in the first place.
“Why are you sending out a Marshals’ task force to help out with such a chase for someone suspected for stealing a power tool and unfortunately pulling a knife on an officer?” Weichselbaum said.
On the decision by the Marshal to shoot and kill the suspect when the suspect was using their car to push the Marshal’s car, Weichselbaum said people she spoke to who have left the Marshals Service, find that protocol outdated.
“The U.S. Marshals still go by what DOJ (Department of Justice) standards are for use of force, which are still years old. They basically allow you to use lethal force when you feel under ‘imminent danger’,” Weichselbaum said.
She adds that the Marshals who make up the task forces for the agency are often members of local law enforcement agencies.
So, there’s no standard for what cases task forces take on, Weichselbaum found.
Weichselbaum added there’s no standard for what cases taskforces take on and no national oversight.
“The big irony is one wing of DOJ has the U.S. Marshals task forces running around the country in shootings, and another wing of DOJ is regulating local police departments forcing them to reform,” Weichselbaum said. “But DOJ can’t force its own agencies to reform.”
