PD: Suspect opens fire on Glendale officer, shot and killed

PHOENIX - Police have identified a 24-year-old man shot and killed by a Glendale police sergeant early Saturday.

Officers say he was 24-year old Jerimiah Pulaski. We found his Facebook page that indicates he was a solider for five years. The posts indicate that he had just returned home from Afghanistan in February.

One post read “I will rebuild my life brick by brick.” Another reads, “I have to figure out how to undo five years of military training and combat psychosis so I can feel a soul again.”

Phoenix police Sgt. Steve Martos said Pulaski was leaving a restaurant near 59th Avenue and Greenway Road in Glendale around 1:30 a.m. with a friend when a person unknown to them engaged them in a conversation that turned hostile.

Martos said Pulaski retrieved a handgun and shot the male victim. The victim reportedly received a non-life-threatening injury.

Police said Pulaski fled the area on a motorcycle and as officers responded to the shooting scene a Glendale police sergeant saw the suspect near 51st Avenue and Cactus Road in Phoenix.

The sergeant got Pulaski to stop and as he got off his motorcycle he opened fire on the sergeant and a citizen observer riding in the patrol vehicle, according to Martos. Martos said a number of rounds were fired at both victims.

Martos said the 36-year-old female sergeant returned fire, striking Pulaski. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

One witness who lives nearby tells ABC15 he heard about 10 shots. When he went outside he saw police approaching the man who appeared to be slumped over the bike. He said when they grabbed him he fell to the pavement.

Phoenix police are investigating the officer-involved shooting and Glendale police are investigating the original shooting that took place outside the restaurant, Martos said.