CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) - Authorities say a man is accused of shooting and wounding three police officers during two confrontation is an ex-convict who was was released from prison a year earlier.
Chandler police say 35-year-old Rigoberto Jimenez on Monday allegedly shot one officer who sought to question Jimenez because of suspicious behavior and later allegedly shot two other officers among those searching for Jimenez after he fled into a nearby home.
According to the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, Jimenez was released from prison in Tucson on April 25 of 2019 after serving sentences for Maricopa County convictions that included aggravated assault and armed robbery.
According to police, Jimenez was arrested in a residence next to the home where the second shooting took place and that Jimenez had set the home on fire to try to escape.
The first officer who was shot was released from a hospital after treatment for a leg wound. The other two officers who were shot escaped serious injury because the bullets hit one officer’s protective vest and equipment carried by another officer.
Online court records don’t list an attorney for Jimenez who could comment on the allegations.
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