In the late hours of a Thursday evening, Gilbert Police Lieutenant Eric Lewis Shuhandler, a 42-year-old male, was on patrol near the border of Gilbert and Mesa, Arizona. On January 28, 2010, he conducted what seemed to be a routine traffic stop on a pickup truck with an obscured license plate. Inside the vehicle were two men, Daimen Irizarry, the driver, and Christopher Redondo, the passenger.
After taking their information, Shuhandler returned to his patrol car and discovered that Redondo had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. As he walked back toward the passenger side of the truck, Redondo fired a single shot, striking the lieutenant in the head. Eric Shuhandler was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries shortly before midnight.
The two suspects fled the scene, leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase that stretched for over 30 miles. During the pursuit, they fired shots and threw tools and other objects from their truck at the pursuing officers. The chase came to an end near the town of Superior when the truck stopped, and the two men emerged, engaging in a gun battle with officers from multiple agencies. Both Irizarry and Redondo were wounded in the shootout and subsequently taken into custody.
Following their arrests, the two men faced the legal consequences of their actions. Daimen Irizarry was convicted in October 2010 for his role in the events and was sentenced to 107 years in prison for charges including aggravated assault and drive-by shooting. Christopher Redondo, the man who fired the fatal shot, was already facing legal trouble for a separate 2009 murder, for which he was serving a life sentence. After numerous delays, Redondo was finally convicted of Lieutenant Shuhandler's murder on May 7, 2019, and received another life sentence. In January 2024, Christopher Redondo, aged 49, died in prison.
