Man dead after shooting in uptown Phoenix; suspect released

Detectives are investigating after a man was shot to death and another was stabbed during a protest in uptown Phoenix on Thursday night.
Published: Jul. 4, 2024 at 9:27 PM MST|Updated: Jul. 5, 2024 at 6:53 PM MST

PHOENIX (AZFamily)— Detectives are investigating after one man was shot to death and another man was stabbed during a protest in uptown Phoenix Thursday night.

Just before 9 p.m., officers and firefighters responded to reports of a violent fight near Central Avenue and Camelback Road.

The man who was shot was pronounced dead at the scene. Police say he was 51 years old Paul Franco.

The man who was stabbed was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

Video from the scene shows dozens of police officers, some in tactical gear, blocking off several streets along Central Avenue.

Police detained a woman who was believed to be involved in the shooting, and she was taken in for questioning. According to Phoenix police, the woman claimed the shooting was in self-defense. She was later released.

According to a police spokesperson, the incident was unrelated to the nearby Fabulous Phoenix Fourth event at Steele Indian School Park.

Details surrounding what led up to the fight haven’t been released.

A decision on possible charges won’t be made until the investigation is complete.

“Fourth of July is to have fun and everything. A day to have fun but not see people get hurt,” said Leroy Jones, who lives near the scene and watched the fireworks with his wife last night.

“I was in the park watching the fireworks and then because the fireworks was a little bit delayed and when we came back it was a lot of police cars and stuff and we didn’t know what happened,” said a neighbor. “I live by here so nothing like this ever happens. This is the first time I’ve seen something like this.”

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