Shooter at large after man gunned down in Glendale
Glendale police are continuing to search for a suspect who shot and killed a man Monday evening in what is being called an ambush.
Authorities responded to the 1200 block of Boynton Street sometime after 9:20 p.m. after receiving multiple calls of gunfire in the area. When officers arrived on the scene they found a man dead on the ground who had been shot.
Sgt. Dan Suttles with the Glendale Police Department said the officers tried to administer first aid to the man, but their efforts were in vain.
He said the 28-year-old man was with another person and a dog visiting family in the area. They were walking back to their car when someone approached them from behind and began shooting.
The man’s companion and dog were unharmed in the attack, while the shooter ran away from the scene.
A perimeter was initially set up by police, but Suttles said it was eventually disbanded when it became clear the shooter was no longer in the area.
The suspect is described as a white man in his 50s, wearing dark clothing and prescription glasses. He was also said to be 5 feet 10 with an unshaven face and a medium build.
It’s unknown if the victims knew the shooter or what the motive might have been for the attack.
“Right now, we’re looking at all the evidence, the forensics and piecing together what’s the best lead to follow,” Suttles said. “We don’t want to take anything off the table because this investigation is still brand new.”
He added the public is not believed to be in danger.
While the neighborhood is dense with apartment buildings, Suttles said the area is fairly quiet.
Next door to where the men and his companion had come from is a retirement community, and it’s also less than half a mile from Horace Mann Elementary.
It’s also a part of the Adams Hill area of Glendale where an unrelated triple-homicide occurred in April less than a mile away from Monday’s shooting.
News of the incident still came as a shock to neighbors.
Aria Sirvaitis, who has lived in the area for about a year and a half, was coming back from grocery shopping with her roommates that night when she saw her block had been cordoned off with yellow caution tape with dozens of police cars packed into the area.
“We were very concerned … all we heard from an officer was there was a shooting suspect and to be on the lookout,” she said. “We didn’t know who it was or where they were, just that they were on our street somewhere.”
Sirvaitis said her concerns were somewhat relieved thanks to the large police presence in the area, adding that she believes this was a one-time occurrence in the neighborhood and that it’s still a safe place to live.
“But things like this still happen everywhere … in Ohio, Texas, California, just in random places, even at a garlic festival,” she said.
