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Efrain Hidalgo

Age : 36

Gender : Male

Race : Latino/a/e

Date : 08/31/2025

Location : 20th Street and Southern Avenue, Hermoso Park

City : Phoenix

County : Maricopa

State : Arizona

Agency : Phoenix Police Department

Officer(s) :Matthew Olmstead, Matthew Paz

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during traffic stop

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/31/2025, shortly after 12:45 a.m., Phoenix Police officers Matthew Olmstead and Matthew Paz encountered 36-year-old Efrain Hidalgo while he was riding a bicycle near Hermoso Park at 20th Street and Southern Avenue. Early police statements did not explain why officers had targeted Hidalgo for investigation, but records and the later body-camera release established that police stopped him because his bicycle did not have a headlight. Hidalgo was Latino.
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Olmstead and Paz got out of their patrol vehicle to stop Hidalgo. Hidalgo moved away from them on foot, and Paz chased him a short distance and tackled him to the ground. Paz and Hidalgo struggled on the ground for several seconds. Police alleged that Hidalgo then removed a knife. Video shows Olmstead repeatedly asking what was in Hidalgo's hand and then warning Paz that Hidalgo had a knife.
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Olmstead then fired nine rounds at Hidalgo from approximately 10 feet away. The body-camera footage shows that Olmstead did not order Hidalgo to drop the knife before opening fire. Hidalgo fell after approximately the third shot, but Olmstead continued firing. Police have not disclosed precisely how many bullets struck Hidalgo, although an officer's report described multiple gunshot wounds.
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The video does not clearly establish a police claim that Hidalgo swung the knife at Paz. Paz later told another officer that Hidalgo had swiped at him with the knife, but Phoenix New Times reported that the available footage was too unclear to confirm that account visually. A knife was recovered beside Hidalgo.
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After the shooting, Hidalgo lay largely motionless on the ground. Approximately 30 seconds later, officers ordered him to roll away from the knife so they could help him, but no response from Hidalgo can be heard on the recording. Police waited approximately five minutes after the shooting before officers approached and began medical treatment. Officer Joseph Corso subsequently wrote that Hidalgo had no pulse, was not breathing and had fixed and dilated pupils when officers began treating him. Hidalgo was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead at approximately 1:28 a.m.
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The Arizona Department of Public Safety's Major Incident Division conducted the outside criminal investigation. The case was submitted to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office on 01/06/2026. On 01/29/2026, the County Attorney's Office listed the Hidalgo shooting as “Cleared,” ending the criminal review without charges against the officers.
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Phoenix Police separately conducted an internal administrative review of the officers' actions. The department released a critical-incident briefing and body-camera footage in September 2025. The footage and additional police records obtained by Phoenix New Times provided substantially more detail than the department's initial public account, including the bicycle-light basis for the stop, Paz's tackle, the nine shots fired by Olmstead, the absence of a command to drop the knife before the gunfire, and the approximately five-minute delay before officers began medical aid.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
Matthew Olmstead was the Phoenix Police officer who fired all nine shots at Hidalgo. Matthew Paz was Olmstead's partner and tackled Hidalgo before becoming physically engaged with him on the ground immediately before the shooting. Police initially withheld both officers' names from their public releases; their identities were later established through police records obtained by Phoenix New Times.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.azfamily.com/2025/08/31/man-with-knife-dies-after-being-shot-by-officer-south-phoenix-park/
https://ktar.com/arizona-news/man-dead-officer-involved-shooting/5744614/
https://www.azfamily.com/2025/09/12/new-video-shows-deadly-police-shooting-south-phoenix-park/
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/video-phoenix-cops-kill-another-man-bike-light-infraction-22680759/
https://www.phoenix.gov/content/dam/phoenix/policesite/mediaadvisories/2025/OIS%202030%20E%20Southern%20Ave%20UPDATE.pdf
https://maricopacountyattorney.org/562/First-Responder-Critical-Incident-Callou
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