By Aaron Miller-
Five police officers have been shot in an ambush after responding to a report of gunfire inside a home in Phoenix, with four hurt while trying to get a baby to safety, the force said.
Another four officers were injured by shrapnel or ricocheting bullets, although all are expected to survive, Sgt Andy Williams from Phoenix Police in Arizona said.
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The suspect was found dead in the barricaded home and a woman inside was critically injured, police said in a statement which did not say how the suspect died.
The most seriously injured officer was the first on the scene and was invited into the home before being shot, Mr Williams said.
A SWAT team responded to the scene and found the suspect dead inside. A woman — the suspect’s former girlfriend — was found critically injured.
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Police said the man and woman have a child together and that the infant at the scene was believed to be their child.
The baby had been inside the home “and at some point was placed in a carrier and placed outside”, Mr Williams told reporters at one of two hospitals where the wounded officers were being treated.
Sgt Ann Justus, a police department spokeswoman, said the baby was unharmed.
Earlier, chief of police Jeri Williams said four of the five officers were recovering from their wounds, while the fifth was “seriously hurt but is on the road to recovery”.
A video on KPNX-TV showed a man coming out of the home with what appeared to be a bag, setting it down just outside the front door and then raising his hands to surrender while backing away from the house.
The video then appeared to show gunfire as officers approached the doorway and then scattered.
Ms Williams said the first officer to arrive was shot and wounded “multiple times”.
She said: “This is just one more example of the dangers that officers face every day keeping us and our community safe.
“If I seem upset, I am. This is senseless. It does not need to happen and it continues to happen over and over again.”
No identities have been released and police say they are still trying to learn circumstances of the incident.
The neighbourhood where the events unfolded has newly built homes and the home where the shooting happened had its second-story windows shot out.
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