Suspect says he will return to prison, shoots Phoenix Cop multiple times: Police

Essa Kolareh Eugene Williams shot 22-year-old police officer Tyler Moldova multiple times in an apartment complex parking lot on Tuesday morning, a prosecutor said, adding that the suspect had been heard. on body camera footage says he’ll be back in jail before he does. start shooting.

Prosecutor John Schneider presented footage of the incident during Williams’ trial Tuesday night. In the footage, Williams can be heard talking on the phone to someone before Moldova approaches him, the police statement may have said.

“He heard on the body camera before the crime said something like he was going back to jail. A short time later he shot at the police to avoid any,” Schneider said. What kind of fear?”

After approaching Williams, Moldova asked him if he had any weapons on him, which Williams denied but then “grabbed a shotgun from his waist, held it up towards the officer and fired several times”. the statement said.

The Moldovan fell after the first shots, but Williams “continued to shoot the officer even after the officer was on the ground,” Schneider said.

Moldova is in a local hospital and remains in “extremely critical condition”, the police department said in an email.

After Moldova fell to the ground and was shot again, Williams dropped the gun and attempted to snatch the unresponsive officer’s pistol from his holster and then fought the second officer before being shot. arrested with the help of a third officer, the statement said.

The incident began when officers were searching for the driver of one of the cars believed to be driving erratically nearby.

A possible police cause statement released Wednesday said the officer suffered up to eight gunshot wounds, including one to the head.

Williams faces charges including attempted first-degree murder, according to police statements and court filings. A judge ordered Williams to be held for lack of a $3 million cash bond.

No defense attorney attended the hearing for Williams, and court records do not list a person who could speak for him.

Williams had nine felony convictions, including armed robbery, aggravated assault and endangerment, the probable cause statement said. Williams was sentenced to multiple prison terms in 2017 and released in 2020, Arizona corrections department records show.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.