Man with knife shot by Phoenix police officers near 27th Avenue and Thomas Road

PHOENIX — An investigation is underway after a man with a knife was shot by Phoenix police officers Saturday morning near 27th Avenue and Thomas Road.

The update from Phoenix Police provided Saturday afternoon is below:

Phoenix police say they received a called about a man with a knife making threatening statements just after 9:35 a.m.

Police say officers confronted the man, giving him multiple commands to put the knife down and that he was under arrest.

Throughout the incident, police used less-lethal methods to stop the man while chasing him. Police say "all attempts with the less-lethal tools were unsuccessful."

As the turned onto a side street, police say he still had the knife in his hand, despite multiple commands for him to drop the knife.

The shooting occurred when the man ran toward an occupied vehicle. Police say they are searching for the occupants who were inside the vehicle when the shooting occurred so that they can be interviewed. The vehicle is described as a white, early 2000's model Chevrolet Tahoe.

Police ask for the occupants of the vehicle to contact the department's non-emergency line at 602-262-6151.

Police added that before the shooting, the man reportedly threatened one person with the knife and was confronted by another driver in the area. That's when the man started running away and officers made contact with him.

Mitchell, a nearby business owner, caught the shooting on his phone. He tells ABC15 he was driving by the area and had to stop when an officer pulled in front of him.

He told ABC15 he did see officers use beanbags before pulling out his phone to record the scene. He saw the man run across the parking lot of the dispensary nearby.

Phoenix Police later clarified they used a 40 mm less-lethal weapon, which typically uses sponge rounds.

Zooming in on the cell phone footage, you can see something in the man’s hand as he ran. Police say it was a knife.

When police ended up shooting the man, Mitchell said he was shocked.

“I didn’t know it was a gun that they shot him with,” he said, thinking it was another beanbag gun.

Phoenix Police did not say what non-lethal weapons were used.

“I see these things, these videos online of shootings. You never think anything of it until they you see it firsthand,” Mitchell said, emotional.

The man has not been identified. He was reportedly taken to the hospital in stable condition with serious injuries.

Retired Phoenix Police Assistant Chief Andy Anderson says the criminal and internal investigation will focus less who the man is and more on how the officers perceived him as a threat.

"That's the most important part -- what were the officers thinking at the moment they made that decision," said Anderson.

A spokesperson for Poder in Action, a community activist group focused on policing, told ABC15 the video clearly shows unnecessary force.

The person who was shot was not posing a threat to anybody near him, and not even the police officers that shot him. He was running away," said Shalae Flores, a spokesperson for 'Poder.'

Phoenix PD is continuing to try and track down the occupants of this white SUV that the suspect was running near at the time he was shot. The department did not answer ABC15's question when asked if they were hoping to talk to the occupants as witnesses or potential victims.

Anderson though, believes the SUV and people inside could play a major role in the officer's justification.

The shooting remains under investigation.

This is a developing story, stay tuned to ABC15 and abc15.com for updates.