Robber dies after being shot by police
A man who was shot by a police officer Wednesday morning after robbing a pharmacy in Tempe died as he hid in a nearby senior-care center, police say.
The robber for a time had barricaded at Westchester Senior Living, an assistedliving facility with about 160 residents, on Rural Road north of Guadalupe Road. After about an hour of trying to make contact with the robber, police said SWAT team members discovered the man had died.
Police were still working to identify the man Wednesday night.
Police were called to Walgreens at McClintock and Guadalupe roads at about 9 a.m. Wednesday on a report that the pharmacy was being robbed by a man with a possible firearm, said Lt. Mike Pooley, Tempe police spokesman. The man was demanding pharmaceuticals, according to Pooley.
The man was described to police as black, approximately 6 feet tall and wearing a black shirt with gray sweatpants. He was carrying a black bag and wore a ski mask. Witnesses said he claimed to have a weapon but did not display one.
Officers patrolling the area saw a man matching the robber’s description near Rural Road and Westchester Drive, slightly more than a mile away, and attempted to talk to him, Pooley said. The man did not want to talk to the police and he fled, which prompted a foot chase by the responding officers, Pooley said.
After a scuffle, the officer fired a single shot from his gun, hitting the man, Pooley said.
Soon after, a worker at the senior facility spotted the robber barricading himself in a storage area, Pooley said.