PHOENIX — Commander Greg Carnicle was shot and killed at the scene of a domestic violence call near 40th Drive and Pinnacle Peak Road on Sunday night.
Two other officers were injured in the north Phoenix shooting. The suspect was killed after barricading himself inside a home for several hours.
According to Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams, Carnicle was just months away from retiring after putting more than 30 years on the force.
The family released a statement through Phoenix Police on Monday which read, in part:
"He dedicated his life to serve, protect, provide for, and love us. He was truly our hero and always will be. He touched many lives and many hearts have now been broken. We are beyond thankful for our community. We appreciate the outpouring of kind words and we hear your prayers. We know he will live on through the character and love he built in our family."
“Greg and I knew each other for thirty years," Williams said Monday.
"As the evening progressed, there were text messages and phone calls to me about Greg such as ‘great leader, good man, loved his family, supported the police department,’ so those are the kinds of words that family members can gain some strength in during these difficult times.”
Carnicle held positions throughout the department during his career including the special assignments unit, K9 and he most recently oversaw all evening and weekend patrol operations.
"It takes a special person, last year, to come to me and say I want to finish my last year of as the duty commander or watch commander for our department," Williams said.
The two female officers who were shot and injured are expected to recover.
Williams identified the two wounded officers Monday as Marissa Dowhan and Alicia Hubert. Both are legacy officers with the department.
Williams said the 22-year-old suspect, who was being asked to leave, shot the three officers as they were walking upstairs.
The suspect was identified Monday as Jacob Emry Mcilveen.
Phoenix Police spokeswoman Sgt. Mercedes Fortune said there was no indication that Mcilveen was armed and would turn violent when the three officers initially responded to the call.
“What happened after that was nothing shy of pure valor and heroism,” Williams said.
“We watched officers going in, not even considering what would happen with their own lives, extracting Greg from the residence as well as Dowhan and Hubert.”
Mcilveen remained in the home after the officers were extracted for several hours before he exited the home armed, police said. That's when the officer-involved shooting happened and Mcilveen was pronounced dead on the scene.
Fran Barnett, 96, a neighbor who lives directly across the street from the suspect's house, described the shooting as a war zone.
“When they came, the policeman said, ‘You must get in your backyard. There’s an active shooting going on," Barnett said.
"He took me out on the patio and he said, ‘You sit here and don’t go back in your house.’ It sounded like a war zone. It really did.”
If you would like to help Carnicle's family and the other officers shot during the incident, you can donate through the Phoenix Police Foundation's website here.