Undercover Cop Rams Carjacker's Car To End High-Speed Chase, Shootout Follows

Phoenix, AZ, 15 March, 2017 - A 25-year-old man suspected in a deadly Ahwatukee shooting Wednesday morning is dead after stealing a woman's car in Glendale and leading officials on a high-speed chase.

Phoenix police have identified 25-year-old Todd Munson as the murder suspect who led police on a chase that ended in his shooting death moments after an undercover officer rammed into the stolen Corvette he was driving.

Munson had been sought in connection with the murder of 40-year-old Nathan Cahal, who was shot dead in his Ahwatukee Foothills apartment at about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Munson had a lengthy criminal record as an adult and several arrests as a juvenile, according to court records.

Police on Thursday morning gave a detailed narrative of what happened in the approximately 90 minutes between when they first located him and the chase that ended in an officer-involved shooting in north Phoenix.

Phoenix police say Munson carjacked two people and stole a cellphone from a third at gunpoint while trying to evade authorities. He also unsuccessfully attempted to steal a third vehicle and two other cellphones in the getaway.

After Cahal’s murder, detectives identified Munson as the suspect and learned that he was headed to a residence in the 6400 block of West Kings Avenue in Glendale, near 67th Avenue and Bell Road.

There, they found Munson walking on the sidewalk and attempted to talk to him, but he immediately ran and jumped over a wall into an apartment complex.

A gunshot rang out from behind the wall. Authorities believe Munson may have accidentally shot himself in the leg.

Glendale police received a call moments later about a man matching Munson’s appearance who unsuccessfully attempted to steal a 41-year-old woman’s vehicle at gunpoint in the 6400 block of West Bell Road.

The man then stole an adjacent white pickup truck from a 53-year-old man. The truck was abandoned about 8 miles away at a business near Union Hills Drive and Seventh Avenue, where police say Munson carjacked a person driving a yellow Corvette.

Phoenix police said Munson left the area and stopped at a convenience store parking lot near Tatum Boulevard and Union Hills Drive, where he tried to steal cellphones from two men who ducked behind fuel pumps, preventing him from taking their phones.

A Phoenix police helicopter located the stolen Corvette outside a residence in the 4600 block of West Country Gables Drive, where police say Munson stole a 38-year-old woman’s cellphone at gunpoint.

Police said Munson was then reported at the North Valley and Norterra parkways, where he attempted to steal another man’s cellphone while waiting at a stoplight.

Munson fled north before the man could react.

Officers in the Police Department’s Special Assignment Unit arrived in the area and used one of their unmarked vehicles to stop the Corvette in a crash at North Valley Parkway and Dove Valley Road.

Local television footage showed several officers emerging from unmarked vehicles with their guns drawn after the Corvette crashed.

Two of the officers fired at Munson, said Sgt. Alan Pfohl, a Phoenix police spokesman.

Pfohl said there were no reports that Munson had fired shots at police during the chase, and police were not in communication with the suspect.

The two officers who fired their weapons are members of the department's Special Assignment Unit.

One is a 50-year-old with 29 years of service with Phoenix police.

The other is a 49-year-old officer with more than eight years with the department, Pfohl said.