Police ID Man Shot By Officers
Kurt Aho, 64, Had Just Lost Home To Foreclosure
POSTED: 10:27 pm MST September 29,
2009
UPDATED: 8:56 am MST September 30,
2009
PHOENIX -- So many these days can relate to the distress of losing a home, but neighbors in one north Phoenix neighborhood are struggling to understand why one man’s struggle had to end the way it did.Police said the problems started Tuesday when two men drove to a house near 31st Avenue and Sandra Terrace and told the former owner, Kurt Aho, that they’d just purchased the home at auction.“He obviously became upset, made some comments, and went inside and came back out with a gun,” said Detective James Holmes of the Phoenix Police Department.Investigators said Aho, 64, fired at the new owners’ cars. The new owners ran and were not hurt.Officers arriving on scene reported the man at the house had a gun in one hand and a beer in the other. Police said negotiators tried talking him down, but at some point in the negotiations, Aho pointed his gun at a police vehicle.“At that point, (the SWAT team) fired two sage bullets, which are rubber bullets, at the gentleman. At that point, he raised his weapon and officers returned fire,” said Det. Holmes.Neighbors heard several gunshots.“It breaks my heart,” said Jim Ledune, a neighbor.Another neighbor, who sells foreclosures for a living, said losing a house isn’t worth losing your life, but he does understand how tough it is.“You’ve lost more than your home. You’ve lost something that you stand for, worked hard for and it didn’t work,” said Charlie Sykes, a neighbor.Police identified the officers involved as officers M. Malpass and E. Piering.
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