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Isiah Steven Williams

Age : 24

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 08/29/2022

Location : Days Inn, 21636 North 26th Avenue, near 26th Avenue and Deer Valley Road

City : Phoenix

County : Maricopa

State : Arizona

Agency : Phoenix Police Department

Officer(s) :Kevin Lucas; additional officers Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Suicide under police duress during mass shooting and shootout with police

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/28/2022, 24-year-old Isaiah Steven Williams died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after an extended mass shooting outside a Days Inn in north Phoenix and an exchange of gunfire with responding Phoenix Police Department officers. Williams killed two bystanders, wounded three other civilians and injured two police officers before killing himself.
The shooting began at approximately 8:30 p.m. at the motel near 26th Avenue and Deer Valley Road. Surveillance video later released by Phoenix police showed Williams leaving a motel room wearing extensive tactical equipment, including a ballistic vest with steel plates, ballistic helmet, gas mask and knee pads. He was armed with a semiautomatic rifle and a 9mm handgun and carried multiple rifle magazines and incendiary devices.
Williams began firing throughout the motel parking lot and toward vehicles and nearby buildings. Surveillance footage showed him firing at multiple vehicles without any apparent interaction with the people inside them. He also attempted to throw a Molotov cocktail toward a nearby Waffle House, but the device failed to ignite the building.
During the shooting, 36-year-old Misael Arevalo and 44-year-old Karla Garzona arrived in a vehicle and were caught in Williams's gunfire. Williams fired into their vehicle, killing both. Three additional civilians were wounded during the attack.
Phoenix police began arriving after receiving numerous emergency calls reporting an active shooter. Williams opened fire toward responding police vehicles. Four police SUVs were subsequently found riddled with bullets. One officer was struck by gunfire, while another officer, Kevin Lucas, was struck by shrapnel in multiple areas, including his face. Both survived.
The distinction between the two injured officers became important because early reports contained conflicting information about which officer returned fire. Phoenix police subsequently clarified that Lucas, the officer wounded by shrapnel, was the officer who fired at Williams. The other officer, who was directly struck by a bullet, did not fire.
Lucas returned fire as Williams continued shooting. The available evidence does not establish that Lucas struck Williams. After the exchange with police, Williams moved through the area before suffering a single gunshot wound to the head. Investigators determined that wound was consistent with Williams shooting himself.
Police did not immediately approach Williams because of the continuing danger and the possibility that he possessed additional weapons or explosives. After officers eventually secured the area, Williams was found dead. Investigators recovered the semiautomatic rifle, handgun, multiple magazines and incendiary devices associated with him.
The scale of the gunfire became clearer after investigators processed the scene and reviewed surveillance footage. Williams fired an extraordinary number of rounds throughout the motel complex, striking vehicles, buildings and responding police vehicles. The released surveillance footage documented much of his movement through the property and provided independent visual evidence of the attack rather than leaving the reconstruction dependent solely on police statements.
A later police incident report exceeding 300 pages provided additional information about Williams's condition before the shooting. His parents told investigators that they had become concerned about changes in his mental state during the preceding months and believed several events had taken a significant psychological toll on him. The reporting did not establish a definitive motive for the mass shooting.
The subsequent investigation established that Williams died from his own gunfire rather than from the shot or shots fired by Officer Lucas. Phoenix Police Department's official incident advisory lists Williams's death as a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. His death therefore belongs in the database as a suicide under police duress rather than a fatal police shooting.
The two people Williams killed, Misael Arevalo and Karla Garzona, were civilians who happened to enter the parking lot during the attack. They were not killed by police and therefore are not separate police-death entries in this incident.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Phoenix Police Officer Kevin Lucas was publicly identified as the officer injured by shrapnel who returned fire at Williams. The second officer who was struck by a bullet was not identified in the official material located for this update.
No reliably documented prior fatal shooting by Lucas or significant substantiated misconduct record involving him was located.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.azfamily.com/2022/08/30/3-dead-2-police-officers-injured-after-shootout-outside-north-phoenix-hotel/
https://www.azfamily.com/2022/09/10/police-release-graphic-video-phoenix-mass-shooting-that-left-3-dead-2-officers-hurt/
https://www.azfamily.com/2022/09/13/police-report-sheds-new-light-phoenix-shooting-that-left-3-dead-2-officers-wounded/
https://www.azfamily.com/2022/09/03/second-officer-injured-mass-shooting-north-phoenix-motel-released-hospital/
https://www.phoenix.gov/policesite/Documents/OIS_Media_Advisory_Library/OIS_22-16_2600_W_Deer_Valley.pdf