A tragic chain of events unfolded early Monday in southwest Phoenix, leaving a man and woman dead in what police describe as an apparent murder-suicide. A three-year-old child, who had been taken from an Avondale home the previous night, was found safe in the suspect’s vehicle.
According to the Phoenix Police Department, officers first tried to stop a car near 7th Avenue and Dobbins Roadaround 2:30 a.m. The driver, later identified as Alexis Torres, 23, fled and barricaded himself inside a nearby home. While officers attempted to negotiate, Torres reportedly shot himself. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
Investigators later discovered a three-year-old child inside Torres’ abandoned vehicle. Police say the child was unharmed and has since been reunited with family.
About an hour after the standoff began, officers were called to a separate scene near 67th Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road, where they found 30-year-old Selena Felix lying in the roadway with multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities later confirmed that Felix was Torres’ former girlfriend and the mother of the child who had been taken, though Torres was not the child’s father or legal guardian.
Court records show Torres had a violent history. In 2021, he pleaded guilty to an aggravated assault charge after threatening a father and his two young daughters with a gun outside a school. The Arizona Department of Corrections confirmed Torres was released from prison earlier this year after serving nearly four years of a five-year sentence, followed by a period of probation.
Police are still investigating what led up to the deadly encounter, which began Sunday night in Avondale and ended hours later with a barricade and gunfire in Phoenix.
Authorities urge anyone affected by domestic violence to seek help through local resources such as the National Domestic Violence Hotline at thehotline.org or by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).
