Mesa police shoot, kill man inside stolen vehicle in 7-Eleven parking lot

Police are investigating after an officer-involved shooting at a 7-Eleven parking lot in central Mesa early Wednesday morning.

Det. Richard Encinas says that officers first got a call from an employee of the store, located near 8th Avenue and Dobson, around 4:10 a.m. about 25-year-old Watts Williams, who was unresponsive inside a car in the parking lot. The employee wrote down the license plate numbers and police confirmed that it matched a stolen vehicle out of Chandler.

Officers arrived and tried to make contact with Williams inside, but were unsuccessful for about 15 minutes. Soon afterward, Williams rolled down his windows and revved his engine, eventually taking off and hitting a patrol car. At that point, two officers fired their guns, striking Williams. He died at the scene, and no officers were hurt.

Dobson Road reopened, and 8th Avenue was shut down for several hours until the investigation was completed. This is the 60th officer-involved shooting in Maricopa County and the 91st in the state in 2022.