A 21-year-old man is facing a charge of aggravated assault after allegedly spitting on a police officer while responding to what he thought was an active shooter at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
Police said Cole Nenon arrived at the airport’s Terminal 4 with multiple firearms just hours after a shooting that injured two men and left a woman in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.
“Detectives confirmed there was a physical altercation involving a group of people consisting of three adults and two teenagers who are known to each other,” Phoenix police Public Affairs Bureau Sgt. Phil Krynsky said in a statement.
Krynsky said that during the fight, one of the adults pulled out a gun and fired multiple times, striking a woman and a teenage boy.
The shooting took place at 9:45 p.m. outside a restaurant and a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint.
“That teenage male was armed with a knife and cut the man who fired the gun. During the incident, another adult male involved in the fight received minor injuries,” Krynsky said.
“Everyone involved in the incident was located and identified. There are no outstanding suspects.”
Krynsky said the injured woman is still in critical condition at a local hospital.
“The other three individuals taken to the hospital were treated, released, and interviewed by detectives,” he said.
He said the investigation continues and that police will decide if they should press charges.
Police have not yet released the names of the adult victims.
Police said that Nenon is facing a charge of aggravated assault after he allegedly spat at a Phoenix police officer near the shooting scene around 11:25 p.m.
Nenon allegedly entered Terminal 4 after a relative told him that a shooting had happened earlier in the evening, police said.
Krynsky said that Nenon gave his guns to other people at the airport before he approached an officer who was standing outside the place where the shooting happened.
“Nenon appeared irate and began yelling at the officer as he approached him,” Krynsky said. “The officer gave Nenon commands to stop, but he did not. The officer was able to take the man to the ground and placed him under arrest.”
Nenon allegedly spat at the officer and struck him during the struggle, police said.
Krynsky said Nenon had “no connection to the shooting that occurred earlier in the evening.”
Police recovered three firearms and impounded them.
