On Monday, April 27, 2020 around 1:00 AM a Chandler Police patrol officer observed a suspicious male as he walked on Delaware Street just north of Erie Street. The officer witnessed the male pull on car door handles, a common practice of vehicle burglars, while he walked along Delaware Street. When the officer contacted the male, he ran from the officer.
The officer chased after the male. As he ran away, the male fired multiple rounds from a handgun and struck the officer in the leg. The male continued to run northbound to an unknown location.
Around 7:15 AM, the investigation led officers to contact the residents of 589 North Delaware Street. When officers went inside the residence, an unknown subject fired on them. Two officers were struck; one in the upper torso and the other at the midsection. All of the officers inside the home retreated and took cover outside.
Three of the six officers who initially entered the residence returned fire. The unknown subject barricaded inside the home. Additional officers established a perimeter around the home and evacuated residents from nearby homes. As Chandler S.W.A.T. members arrived, negotiators made contact with the subject and learned his identity; Rigoberto Polanco Jimenez.
Eventually, negotiations with Jimenez ended and S.W.A.T. carried out a number of non-lethal measures to remove Jimenez from the residence. During the S.W.A.T. operations, Jimenez remained inside the home.
Jimenez started a fire inside the home, hopped a fence, and forced entry into an adjacent apartment located at 585 North Delaware Street. S.W.A.T. quickly surrounded the residence, and Jimenez surrendered a short time later.
After his arrest, investigators learned Jimenez was also the male who shot the officer earlier that morning at Delaware Street and Erie Street.
After he was treated at the hospital, Jimenez was booked into the Maricopa County Jail on six counts of Attempted Second-Degree Murder and Aggravated Assault on a Police Officer, three counts of Possession of a Weapon by a Prohibited Person, two counts of Criminal Damage and Discharge of a Firearm in City Limits, and one count of Arson of an Occupied Structure, 2nd Degree Burglary, Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, and Endangerment.
Jimenez remains jailed on a $3 million dollar cash bond.