Man with baseball bat shot dead by Phoenix police

PHOENIX - A man shot and killed by Phoenix police after reportedly coming after officers with a baseball bat has been identified.

Phoenix police Sgt. Trent Crump said the shooting happened around 1 p.m. Monday at a recreation area near 19th Avenue and Union Hills Drive.

The suspect was identified as 25-year-old Timothy Sean O'Brien.

According to Crump, officers responded to a 911 call of a man threatening another man with a baseball bat at the Telephone Park Pool.

When officers arrived on scene, they heard a banging noise.

Officers observed O'Brien with the bat confronting a man in a threatening manner under a canopy outside the building.

Crump said the officers ordered O'Brien to drop the bat and told the other man to move away from O'Brien.

O'Brien had already threatened the man with the bat, but once he realized the officers were on scene, he told the man he was going after the officers instead.

O'Brien grabbed the bat and headed toward the officers. He refused to listen to their warnings to stop and put the bat down, Crump said.

O'Brien got close enough to the officers where they felt he was in a position to assault them, so they both fired their handguns.

He was pronounced dead on scene.

Crump said the officers were not hurt.

"It's scary [at the park]," said Jodi Wiseman, who used to bring her children to play there.

Wiseman told ABC15 that she no longer wants her kids playing there because of the large homeless population.