A driver was arrested and processed for driving under the influence on Saturday night on Phoenix's South Mountain, after police say he struck two vehicles and fled near Stephen Mather Drive and Telegraph Pass Road — a sequence that began with reports of shots fired, left a girl in hospital, and ended with officers finding a firearm inside the suspect's vehicle, Phoenix police said.

Source: Arizona's Family (3TV/CBS 5)

First responders were called at around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 14, to reports of shots fired and a crash at Stephen Mather Drive and Telegraph Pass Road, according to the Phoenix Police Department. Officers arriving at the scene found that a driver had struck two vehicles and fled.

Source: FOX 10 Phoenix

A girl was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries from one of the crashes, police said. In line with the protection owed to an injured child, no name, age or photograph of the girl has been released or is published here — police have described her only as a girl who was hurt in one of the two collisions and taken for treatment.

A witness account of gunfire near the summit

A witness told police that occupants of the suspect's vehicle had fired a gun near the summit of South Mountain, according to the reporting. That is a witness account passed to officers, not a confirmed finding: police have not said that they verified shots were fired by anyone in the vehicle, and the gunfire report remains part of what investigators are working to establish.

Officers located the suspect's vehicle and detained the driver and a female passenger. The driver was processed for DUI, and investigators found a firearm inside the vehicle. Police have not publicly identified the driver, have not announced the precise charges he will face, and had not stated the passenger's status in the reports available on Sunday. The investigation is ongoing, police said.

A mountain road built for views, unforgiving at night

Telegraph Pass Road climbs the western side of South Mountain Park and Preserve, one of the largest municipal parks in the United States, and Stephen Mather Drive serves the same mountain area above the Ahwatukee foothills. The summit roads are winding scenic drives, popular after dark for their views over the Phoenix valley — and narrow, steep and dark, with little margin for an impaired or speeding driver.

That combination is why a Saturday-night call that mixed a crash report with a shots-fired report drew a full response. Two separate vehicles were struck, a child ended up in hospital, and the driver left the scene — in Arizona, leaving the scene of a crash involving injuries is itself a serious criminal offence on top of any DUI charge, and officers recovering a firearm from the vehicle adds a further line of inquiry to the case.

What happens next

The driver's identity is normally released once DUI processing and booking are complete and formal charges are filed, and investigators still have to settle the shots-fired report — who, if anyone, fired a gun near the summit, and whether the firearm found in the vehicle is connected to it. The girl's injuries were described as non-life-threatening, and no update on her condition had been issued on Sunday.

For the Punjabi and wider South Asian families who have made the Phoenix valley — Ahwatukee, Chandler and the south Phoenix neighbourhoods below South Mountain — their home, the case is a close-to-home reminder of the two risks that meet on this mountain after dark: impaired driving on a scenic road with no room for error, and how quickly a night out can end with a child in hospital. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when Phoenix police name the driver and announce the charges.