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Rocky Joe Ellis

Age : 47

Gender : Male

Race : Unknown

Date : 08/19/2025

Location : 3700 block of East McDowell Road

City : Phoenix

County : Maricopa

State : Arizona

Agency : Phoenix Police Department

Officer(s) :Jordan Rezac

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during mental health crisis at restaurant

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/19/2025, at approximately 4:04 a.m., Phoenix police officers assigned to the Desert Horizon Precinct responded to an IHOP near 20th Avenue and Northern Avenue after employees reported a man trespassing at the restaurant. While officers were traveling to the call, dispatchers received additional information that the man was cutting himself inside the restaurant while employees and customers were present. The man was later identified as 47-year-old Rocky Joe Ellis.
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Ellis was born on 08/24/1977 and was five days short of his 48th birthday when police killed him. Funeral records identify him as a Phoenix resident.
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According to later reporting based on police records and body-camera footage, a woman at the restaurant told police that Ellis had been inside with a gun earlier in the incident. Police reported that the gun was collected as evidence before officers confronted Ellis outside. The woman told investigators that Ellis subsequently began cutting himself with a hatchet.
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When the first officer arrived, Ellis was outside the restaurant. Police said he was holding a hatchet. Officers ordered Ellis to drop the weapon while backing away from him. Ellis continued walking toward the officers.
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At least three officers eventually confronted Ellis. One officer retrieved a 40mm less-lethal impact launcher from a police vehicle. Body-camera footage shows officers repeatedly ordering Ellis to drop the weapon as he continued approaching. The officer with the less-lethal launcher fired two impact rounds at Ellis, but they did not stop him.
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Officer Jordan Rezac then fired his patrol rifle at Ellis. Later reporting based on the body-camera recording counted at least four rifle shots. Ellis fell to the pavement. The Phoenix Police Department subsequently formally identified Rezac, badge number 10582, as the officer who fired the lethal rounds.
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A witness interviewed immediately after the shooting gave a substantially more critical description of the police response. The witness said officers arrived aggressively with rifles pointed at Ellis and estimated hearing eight to ten shots. The witness said the officers appeared to begin shooting without warning. That account differs from the subsequently released police recordings, which document officers giving commands and deploying less-lethal rounds before Rezac fired.
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The later release of body-camera footage exposed another significant issue that was not apparent from the original news coverage. Rezac did not activate his body-worn camera until after he shot Ellis. Consequently, Rezac's own camera did not capture synchronized audio of his actions and statements leading up to his use of deadly force. Other officers' cameras captured portions of the encounter.
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The recordings also revealed a lengthy delay before officers provided medical treatment. Ellis lay motionless on the ground after Rezac shot him while multiple officers continued pointing weapons at him. Approximately two minutes after the shooting, officers acknowledged that a knife and hatchet were lying near Ellis.
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Officers nevertheless remained back for approximately six minutes. Before approaching Ellis, another officer fired an additional 40mm less-lethal impact round at him while he remained motionless. Officers then moved forward, handcuffed him and began providing medical aid. This six-minute delay was not shown in the Phoenix Police Department's initial edited critical-incident briefing; Phoenix New Times obtained the additional body-camera recording through a public-records request.
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Phoenix Fire Department personnel transported Ellis to a hospital, where he died from his gunshot wounds.
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The Arizona Department of Public Safety Major Incident Division conducted the criminal investigation, marking the first Phoenix Police Department shooting investigated under that arrangement. Phoenix homicide detectives also responded to the scene.
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The criminal investigation was subsequently submitted to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office on 11/24/2025. County Attorney records show that the shooting was reviewed and classified as “Cleared” on 12/18/2025.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
Jordan Rezac was the Phoenix police officer who shot and killed Rocky Joe Ellis. Phoenix Police Department records identify Rezac as Officer #10582.
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The strongest officer-specific issue uncovered in the later records concerns Rezac's body camera. Rezac did not activate it until after he fired his rifle at Ellis. This eliminated the audio record from Rezac's own camera during the critical period immediately preceding his use of deadly force.
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The post-shooting response also generated scrutiny. Public-records footage showed Rezac and other officers keeping their weapons trained on Ellis while he remained motionless for approximately six minutes before officers approached and rendered aid. Another officer fired an additional less-lethal impact round at Ellis immediately before officers approached him.
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The full footage became public only after Phoenix New Times made a records request. The Phoenix Police Department's edited critical-incident briefing omitted the approximately six-minute post-shooting period documented by the additional body-camera footage.
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Rezac was removed from patrol following the shooting and had not returned to patrol duty when Phoenix New Times reported on the case in September 2025.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.azfamily.com/2025/08/20/police-identify-hatchet-wielding-suspect-who-died-after-being-shot-by-officer
https://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/phoenix-police-involved-in-shooting-near-19th-and-northern-avenues
https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/officer-involved-shooting-reported-north-phoenix
https://ktar.com/arizona-news/police-shooting-ihop-phoenix-hatchet/5740286/
https://www.phoenix.gov/content/dam/phoenix/policesite/mediaadvisories/2025/OIS%20UPDATE%202000%20W%20Northern%20Ave.pdf
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/video-phoenix-cops-kill-man-wait-six-minutes-medical-aid-22588494/
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/people-killed-by-phoenix-police-2025-21297528/
https://maricopacountyattorney.org/562/First-Responder-Critical-Incident-Callou
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/abc15/name/rocky-ellis-obituary?id=59280580