Police investigate south Phoenix home-invasion shooting near 24th Street and Southern Avenue, leaving three dead

What happened and where the investigation centered

Phoenix police responded to reports of gunfire in south Phoenix near 24th Street and Southern Avenue at around 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. The call triggered a broad, multi-location response that left a large police presence in the surrounding neighborhood as officers worked multiple scenes and gathered evidence.

Investigators later determined that five adults suffered gunshot wounds connected to the incident. Three men died from their injuries and two other victims were hospitalized and expected to survive.

Multiple scenes: residence, nearby business, and a crashed vehicle

Police said the victims were located across three separate areas near the intersection:

• a home in the neighborhood,
• a nearby fast-food restaurant, and
• a vehicle involved in a crash in the area.

Emergency responders provided medical care at the scenes and transported the surviving victims to a hospital. The area remained active as officers processed evidence, interviewed witnesses, and coordinated traffic control around closures and investigative staging points.

Home invasion identified as the starting point

Police concluded the sequence began as an apparent home invasion involving two armed men entering a residence. Shots were exchanged between the intruders and people inside the home. As the incident unfolded, additional calls came in from nearby locations, including the restaurant area, while officers also encountered a crash scene connected to the same event.

Authorities identified two of the deceased men as David Rashad, 40, and Davontae Fletcher, 20, and said they were the suspected home-invasion participants. A third man who died, Steven Brooks, 23, was found outside the home and was identified as a victim; police said it remained unclear what his role was in the incident.

What remains unresolved

Police described the investigation as ongoing and said detectives were still working to reconstruct the full timeline and determine the circumstances that led to each victim’s location, including how the victim found outside the home became involved. Investigators also continued efforts to clarify the movements of those involved between the residence and the other scenes.

Authorities asked anyone with information to contact Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS (or 480-TESTIGO for Spanish).

The event underscores how quickly a single violent incident can generate multiple investigative scenes, requiring extended police presence for evidence collection, victim identification, and public-safety measures such as road closures and neighborhood checks.