Phoenix police officer killed mourned by friends, family

by Michael Ferraresi - May. 27, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
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Like many young Phoenix police officers with only a few years on the force, Travis Murphy took pride in the arrests he made working his dangerous overnight shift.

He told his wife he wanted to patrol the streets when the worst criminals were out. He told his friends he wanted to be in the thick of the action. He welcomed what many would consider a thankless assignment.


The 29-year-old was known in his central Phoenix police precinct for his relentless pursuit of burglary suspects.

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On Wednesday, as most of Phoenix was asleep, Murphy, the father of a 2-year-old girl and a baby boy born just two weeks ago, was gunned down in the shadows of a home by the type of criminal he tried to keep off the streets.

The shooting happened after Murphy responded Wednesday to what appeared to be a routine emergency call of a suspicious person near Indian School Road and 19th Avenue.

Moments later, shortly after 1:30 a.m., Murphy suffered multiple gunshot wounds in a confrontation with a man suspected of firing from a dark alcove.

Murphy's fellow officers scrambled to stop the bleeding as they rushed him in a patrol car to a nearby hospital.

He died about two hours later from what police described as severe blood loss from multiple gunshot wounds.

Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris characterized Murphy as an enthusiastic four-year veteran who saw his assignment to the Phoenix Squaw Peak Precinct as a calling rather than a springboard to another career.

"These young officers, the vast majority would say Shift 3 is where they wanted to go," said Harris, who added that the night shift was his preference when he started as an officer more than 30 years ago.

"That's where everything is happening at night on the streets," Harris said. "That's the attraction of the job, and the danger of the job."

Harris said he was speechless as he consoled Murphy's widow and learned about the couple's young children. Murphy came from a family with long-standing Valley ties. His father-in-law is a 32-year-veteran of the Phoenix Fire Department.

Harris canceled his appearance at an immigration-enforcement meeting in Washington with other city police chiefs and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to return to the Valley to be with the Murphy family.

A community torn in recent weeks over the role of Phoenix police officers in the implementation of the state's new immigration law was chilled by reports that the suspected gunman was a Hispanic male with a criminal past that included felony convictions.

After pressure from residents and media, police officials quickly identified the suspect, Danny L. Martinez, as a U.S. citizen born in Tucson.

Martinez, 30, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder after tactical-response teams found him hiding naked in a shed a few houses away from the spot where Murphy fell.

"It is sad that when tragedy strikes, the first question out of everyone's mouth is where the suspect was born at," said Harris, the city's Public Safety Manager.

Harris had been instrumental in getting a law-enforcement think tank to schedule a meeting Wednesday in Washington with Holder to discuss illegal-immigration law as 15 states consider their own versions of the new Arizona law.


Responding to a call

Investigators believe Martinez sped into the neighborhood in the 1900 block of West Fairmount Avenue in a Ford Mustang around 1:30 a.m. He struck a parked vehicle before backing the Mustang into a carport, according to police, and tried to cover it with a tarp to hide damage before he fled.

Murphy and his partner, a female officer, responded to a resident's call. Several minutes later, Murphy's partner broadcast in a "999" radio call about the officer being in danger.

Several shots were fired, though it's unclear if Murphy was able to exchange fire, according to Phoenix police Sgt. Trent Crump, a department spokesman.

Officers saw Martinez flee. He later was found naked in a backyard shed at a nearby home. He was taken into custody after police released a K-9 unit dog and subdued him with rubber bullets.

Martinez was being held on suspicion of first-degree murder and misconduct involving weapons. He was booked into Maricopa County Fourth Avenue Jail and later ordered held without bond. He is due to appear in court next Wednesday.

The suspected gunman served almost three years in prison for felony charges of misconduct involving weapons in the Tucson area, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Martinez was released in April 2009. He pleaded guilty in Tucson City Court to DUI in October 2009 and pleaded guilty to theft in 2003.


Residents shaken

Residents who live in the area and have worked over the years with Squaw Peak Precinct police said it was tragic that an officer fell just a few blocks from a park named after another officer who was shot to death.

The Marc Atkinson Recreation Center is dedicated to an officer ambushed and killed by drug dealers in the same area in 1999. Atkinson is one of several fallen officers whose photographs hang on the wall at the precinct.

Donna Neill, who heads Neighborhood Activists Inter-Linked Empowerment Movement, or NAILEM, said third-shift officers in the precinct have worked for years to crack down on area crime.

Neill, who lives less than one mile from Wednesday's shooting, said Squaw Peak Precinct leaders have worked with activists to push for tougher sentences for career street criminals. Neill, who plans to be involved in Murphy's memorial, said: "We're done memorials all over. To have it in my own precinct . . . it's just really hard because it's such a tight-knit family up there. Everyone is carrying a big cross today."

In spite of local community crime-prevention efforts, gangs and drugs remain a problem.

Officers who work the third shift, which runs from the late evening to sunrise, share the responsibility of patrolling the dark alleyways and low-income apartment complexes.

"Third shift is rough," said Ann Malone, a community activist who lives along Indian School Road and runs a citywide coalition with an emphasis on public safety programs.


No call is routine

The police department and city leaders said they would schedule Murphy's memorial and funeral in the coming days.

Phoenix Law Enforcement Association President Mark Spencer said officers were stunned by the tragedy, which he cited as an example of the violent nature of police work.

Any call can create a sudden life-threatening situation, he said.

"A car speeding down the street, there's nothing dangerous or serious about that, but the potential for violence never goes away," Spencer said. "There is no such thing as a routine traffic stop."

Murphy is the 36th Phoenix officer killed in the line of duty.

Prior to Wednesday, the last officer killed on duty was a patrol officer killed by a drunken driver in 2008, and the last fatal shooting of an officer was in 2007.

Reporter Ofelia Madrid contributed to this article.



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