Original Article Police shootings kill 1 man, wound 1 Incidents in Mesa, on reservation Senta Scarborough and Katie Nelson The Arizona Republic Nov. 3, 2004 12:00 AM Within two hours, police shot two men - one fatally - in separate incidents early Tuesday in the East Valley. The shootings occurred about seven miles apart. They left a 44-year-old man dead in a parking lot near the bustling Mesa intersection of Baseline and Alma School roads and a 18-year-old man wounded in the head near cotton fields on the Salt River Reservation. Neither man was identified by late Tuesday, but officials said the younger man was expected to live. Four police officers opened fired on the Mesa victim about 6:22 a.m. after he got out of his Ford Bronco and, police said, seemed to be holding a gun. "He raised his right arm in the direction of the officers holding what they believed to be a gun, said police spokesman Sgt. Chuck Trapani. One officer among five at the scene at the reservation shot and wounded the 18-year-old as the man rammed two police cars following a 15-minute chase, authorities said. The Mesa incident began when police responded to a call that a man had been sitting in a car with a gun for 15 minutes at a gas station at 1205 Baseline Road in Mesa. A witness, whom police declined to name, saw the man talking on a pay phone while Mesa police dispatcher received the 911 call from an unidentified male, Trapani said. "He was on the phone talking to 911 at the same time the call was coming from the pay phone," Trapani said. The witness told police the man hung up and got back into the Bronco. Officers arrived and tried to talk to the man, but he got out of his vehicle and a confrontation occurred. That is when the man raised an apparent weapon, police said. "The witness saw a flash coming from the male subject, and the officer perceived an immediate threat and they discharged their weapons at the subject," Trapani said. Police reported finding what they called a homemade weapon built to resemble a pistol. Nikki Dale, 24, of Mesa, who was working at the Denny's next to the gas station, said she heard the shots. "I wondered what was going on." She said she arrived at work around 5:45 a.m. and heard more than one "loud popping noise" between 6:15 and 6:30 a.m The shooting was Mesa's third fatal officer-involved shooting this year, compared with two last year. Officers David Foster, Brian Brandon, Brian Jutting, and Donald Williams were involved in Tuesday's shooting. All are on three-day paid administrative leave, a routine practice in shootings. Foster, a three-year veteran, was involved in another shooting May 9. Police said the case is still pending. In that case, Christopher Salcedo, 27, was killed after holding two men hostage at gunpoint in an apartment. Police said he pointed a gun at Foster. Tuesday's first shooting occurred just after 4 a.m. when the 18-year-old was spotted speeding through a stop sign on the reservation not far from Loop 101. Federal Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Susan Herskovits said police attempted to stop the car but were unsuccessful. During the pursuit, the suspect's car had looped back through a dirt and gravel section of Palm Lane that's bordered by a few homes and cotton fields. The car slowed enough on North 92nd Street, slightly north of its intersection with Palm Lane, that an officer got out of his car because he believed it was stopping, police said. Instead, the driver rammed his car into two police cars, then steered toward the officer, Herskovits said. The officer opened fire, wounding the 18-year-old. He was taken to Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn. Two other teens were in the suspect's vehicle but were unharmed.