A woman was hospitalized on Wednesday night, November 11, after two Phoenix police officers shot her during a response in the Maryvale neighborhood of west Phoenix, authorities said. Officers were called to the area of 75th Avenue and Sells Drive, north of Indian School Road, at around 7:15 p.m., and found a woman armed with a handgun, according to Phoenix Police Sgt. Chris Berrelleza. The shooting happened after officers made contact with her; two officers fired their weapons, and no officers were injured.
Source: The Phoenix Focal (Focal News), Nov. 12, 2026
Berrelleza said a large police presence shut down part of the west Phoenix community for an extended period on Wednesday night, with crime tape stretched across the street and patrol cars blocking access while the scene was held for investigators. Video recorded by a neighbor and shared with local media captured officers ordering the woman to drop her weapon before shots rang out, according to the reporting.
An outside agency investigates
The Arizona Department of Public Safety's Major Incident Division will investigate the circumstances that led to the shooting. That is the standard practice for outside review of police use of force in the region: DPS investigators, rather than Phoenix officers, reconstruct what happened, and the case is then forwarded to prosecutors for review. DPS has not indicated when its investigation will be complete, or whether any findings will be made public before the case goes to prosecutors.
A great deal about Wednesday night is still officially unknown. Police have not released the woman's name, age or current condition. It was not immediately clear what prompted the initial call to the area, or whether a weapon was recovered at the scene. Berrelleza did not say how many shots were fired, or whether the woman pointed the handgun at officers — the central questions the DPS investigation now has to answer.
Why the running tally matters
By the count cited after the shooting, this was the 42nd officer-involved shooting in Maricopa County this year and the 72nd such incident statewide in Arizona. That pace has drawn sustained attention from community advocates and oversight officials, who have pressed for more transparency in how use-of-force cases are reviewed and how quickly body-camera footage is released to the public.
Maryvale, a predominantly Latino community in west Phoenix, has seen repeated police activity in recent years, and neighborhood leaders have called for clearer public communication when incidents shut down residential streets — as happened again on Wednesday night around 75th Avenue and Sells Drive, where residents were kept outside the tape for hours.
DPS Major Incident Division investigators take over the shooting inquiry; their findings go to prosecutors for a charging review of the officers' actions. Phoenix police are still to release the woman's identity and condition, and any body-camera footage, as the investigation allows.
For drivers and residents in the area, the practical impact on Wednesday night was the closure itself: part of Maryvale around 75th Avenue, north of Indian School Road, stayed restricted for an extended period while investigators worked. No officers were hurt, and the only person injured, on the police account so far, is the woman who was shot and taken to hospital.
The shooting is the latest in a year that has kept Arizona's officer-involved-shooting count climbing — and, until DPS finishes its work, Wednesday night's encounter rests on a short official account: a 7:15 p.m. call, a woman with a handgun, commands to drop the weapon captured on a neighbor's video, and two officers who fired. Everything beyond that now depends on the outside investigation.