Man arrested on misdemeanor warrant admits someone shot him

A man contacted Safford police last Saturday and requested that authorities arrest his son, who had an outstanding warrant. The man said that his son had been “out of control,” and his family didn’t know what to do with him anymore. The man told authorities that he hoped that turning his son in might straighten him up.

At approximately 1:00 in the afternoon Safford police apprehended the suspect during a traffic stop. The man with the warrant was handcuffed and placed in a patrol vehicle.

The suspect told police that he had a wound in his chest that he had gotten from picking at his skin and had accidentally caught an artery. The man had gone to the hospital the night prior and they bandaged up the wound. He asked the officer to take him back to the hospital so they could change the bandage. The officer told him that medical staff at the jail could help.

The medical staff at the jail asked the man about his wound. At first the man was hesitant but finally said that he had been shot. When jail personnel learned the man had been shot, they said that they could not admit him until he had been cleared by the hospital. An officer transported the man back to the hospital where his bandages were changed.

The officer asked the man to tell him how he got shot. The man said that he was in Phoenix on February 14 with some friends. While driving to see a relative, someone cut them off. They followed the car to a gas station with the intention of ‘fighting it out.’ There was an exchange of words and the man said that something didn’t feel right so he stayed in the car. He saw one of the men from the other car pull out a gun and he heard a shot. He then heard another shot and suddenly lost his breath. He realized that he’d been shot. Both involved parties fled the scene at that point except for the man’s friend who he called, ‘Reaper,’ who apparently dug the bullet out of the man’s chest with a knife. The man said that there was a lot of blood and he thought he was going to die.

The man said that he waited until he got back to Safford before going to the emergency room for treatment. He refused to give the names of the other two people who were with him during the incident. After being medically cleared, he was booked into the Graham County Jail for the warrant.

The officer made contact with law enforcement agencies in the Phoenix area but there were no reports of a shooting or shots fired on February 14.

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