Scottsdale Police Officer James Peters, a former SWAT operative previously involved in six fatal officer-involved shootings, killed John Loxas II Tuesday night (February 14) while the 50-year-old grandfather was holding a baby.
Although police “could see that the suspect had the baby in his arms” just before Peters fired the fatal shot, Loxas was unarmed, according to a Scripps wire service account. “After several calls for Loxas to exit the home, he opened the door with the baby in his left hand, and stood just inside the doorway… Officers then saw Loxas reach down to his right, lowering the baby and exposing his head and upper body. Peters then responded to the movement with a single shot to Loxas’ head.”
Two years ago, Loxas was arrested following a report that he had been seen “yelling and walking around with a handgun.” Although officers described Loxas as “drunk” and “threatening his neighbors with a pistol,” he was not charged with aggravated assault — as Arizona statutes would dictate — but for the trivial offense of “disorderly conduct.”
Tuesday’s episode was quite similar: The police were summoned by a report that he had kicked a neighbor’s garbage can into the street while he was on a walk with his nine-month-old grandson. When police arrived they found him outside his home. Ordered to “step away” from the house, Loxas retreated inside. Without any evidence that Loxas intended to harm the child, the officers created a “crisis entry team” — that is, they escalated the conflict by imposing a military protocol that led to the summary execution of a man who wasn’t suspected of a violent crime.
That decision might have been prompted by the fact that Loxas — in addition to having a turbulent relationship with his neighbors — was an outspoken political dissident who briefly considered running for President.
