Phoenix, Arizona
November 10, 2017
Agencies: Phoenix Police Department Arizona
Cause of death: Not Yet Known
Last updated: almost 6 years ago
Phoenix police have identified a man shot to death by an officer as he restrained a woman while holding a knife to her neck as 43-year-old Thomas Aikens.
Police spokesman Sgt. Alan Pfohl says Aikens was shot Friday afternoon near a downtown Phoenix park by an officer using a rifle.
Officer were called to the area because a man was yelling and found Aikens sitting with his back to a garage in an alley and holding the 57-year-old woman. The officers tried to get him to let the woman go, but he refused and said he was sitting on a bomb.
After the shooting, officers found Aiken had wrapped a chain around the woman to keep her from fleeing. She wasn't hurt.