Suicidal Arizona man is shot dead by police after battering his wife and 13-year-old son to death before asking a neighbor if he could borrow their gun to shoot himself
Arizona dad is shot dead by cops after battering his wife and teen son to death before asking a neighbor if he could borrow their gun to shoot himself
Paul Sarver, 53, was shot and killed in his driveway in Phoenix on October 25 after officers responded to a domestic violence call
Police were conducting a wellness check after a concerned neighbor alerted told a 911 operator about the disturbing conversation with Sarver who left his daughter behind for safe keeping at their home
Sarver reportedly told the neighbor he wanted a gun so he could kill himself, before telling them to look after his daughter as he returned home alone
Police then received a second call, this time from Sarver, who was heard telling an operator. ‘Um, we just need police bad. What’s going on is really bad’
According to police reports a officers approached Sarver’s home, he emerged from behind a parked vehicle in the driveway
He allegedly told cops he had a gun and proceeded o point an object toward s them, prompting cops to open fire – killing him
Inside the home, officers found Sarver’s wife Shannon Hursh, 46, and his 13-year-old son Caden Sarver, critically injured. Both later died in hospital
A middle-aged Arizona man was shot dead by police in Phoenix late October after he killed his wife and teen son then went knocking on his neighbor’s door to ask if he could borrow a gun to shoot himself.
Paul Sarver, 53, was killed by police in Phoenix on October 25 after he battered his wife and teen son, before asking his neighbor if he could borrow a gun to kill himself.
The deadly incident unfolded in Phoenix after officers responded to reports of a domestic violence situation just after 10:05pm at a home near Interstate 17 and Jomax.
Police made the wellness check after a report by a concerned neighbor who told a 911 operator that the Sarver had just come over to his home with his daughter and asked to borrow a gun.
The neighbor, who remains named, said Sarver also made repeated threats that he was going to kill himself.
Having failed to extract a firearm, Sarver left his daughter with the neighbors after telling keep the 11-year-old safe before returning to his own home alone.
Police then received a strange call, this time from Sarver who told the operator. ‘Um, we just need police bad.’
While the operator repeatedly asked ‘What’s bad?’ and if anyone was hurt, Sarver simply responded, ‘what’s going on is really bad.’
Two officers from the Phoenix Police Department were dispatched to the scene but as they were approaching the home, Sarver emerged from behind a parked vehicle in the driveway, police bodycam footage show.
He informed the officers that he had a gun.
‘Stay down get that weapon down,’ an officer is heard commanding him.
Sarver instead extended the object out in front of him and pointed it at the officers, who then opened fire on him.
The officers rendered aid until EMTs arrived but the 53-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
Next to the man that had just been shot police found a black hard-shell eyeglasses case, which had apparently being used to simulate a weapon.
Officers then went inside the home and found Sarver’s wife Shannon Hursh, 46, and his 13-year-old son Caden Sarver, critically injured.
Both, badly bleeding from blunt force trauma, were rushed to hospital in ‘extremely critical condition’.
Hursh died in hospital hours after arriving. Caden remained in a critical condition for several days until he too succumbed to his injuries on five days later.
The couple’s 11-year-old daughter was unharmed in the incident. It’s unclear if she witnessed her dad murder her mother and brother before he took her over to the neighbor’s home for safe keeping.
As an investigation into the deadly incident continues, neighbors of the couple have revealed their shock over what happened.
‘We found out it was one of our neighbors going door to door looking for a gun,’ Laurie Abels told Fox 10.
‘He did not come here, but he did go to some other neighbors saying he wanted to kill himself, that he hurt his wife and son.’
‘It just goes to show you don’t know what’s going on in other people’s houses,’ Abels continued.
‘He must’ve had a lot of problems, I wish he would’ve reached out in a different way.’
Blake Peters, meanwhile said: ‘You would see them walk their kids to the bus stop, she would socialize with other moms, the dad was more of the stricter parents.’
Close friends of Shannon Hursh said Sarver struggled with mental health issues and that she had planned to get him help.
‘She lived for her kids, and she lived to give them the happiest life that she could,’ Lindsay Kennedy said of Hursh.
As an investigation into the deadly incident continues, neighbors of the couple have revealed their shock over what happened.
Close friends of Hursh said Sarver struggled with mental health issues and that she had planned to get him help.
A GoFundMe page set up by grieving family members described Shannon Hursh as an ‘amazing mother and friend who was valued and loved beyond measure.’
On Nov. 6, Phoenix police released body-camera video of the shooting. Police say an internal investigation into the shooting is underway.
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