Highlights
- Phoenix police have classified the July 28 death of Bill Blancas, 36, as a homicide following a family fight near 44th Street and Baseline Road.
- Bodycam footage shows officers handcuffing Blancas, who appeared unresponsive, before CPR was started; he died at the hospital.
- No arrests have been made and the cause of death has not been released; the Professional Standards Bureau has opened an administrative investigation.
- Phoenix PD says the incident does not meet criteria for a critical incident briefing and will not release additional video or documents while the homicide investigation is ongoing.
Phoenix police have classified the death of Bill Blancas, 36, as a homicide after releasing seven minutes of body camera footage showing officers arriving at a home near 44th Street and Baseline Road at approximately 4 a.m. on July 28, where Blancas was found being held face down on the floor by two family members following a physical argument.
The footage, described by the department as graphic and unedited, shows officers immediately handcuffing Blancas, who appeared unresponsive upon their arrival. An officer checked for and found a pulse. Officers then noticed blood on the floor that appeared to be coming from Blancas's face. Roughly three minutes into the video, officers removed the handcuffs while keeping Blancas on his side. Shortly before the four-minute mark, officers said his body was cold and called fire department paramedics into the home. First responders arrived approximately 30 seconds later and began CPR. The video ends about three minutes after that. Blancas died at the hospital.
"Detectives learned that the victim became unresponsive during a fight with family members," the Phoenix Police Department said in a Monday statement.
Phoenix PD said the incident does not meet the criteria for a critical incident briefing video, the format the department uses for officer-involved shootings, and will not release additional video or documents while the homicide investigation is active. The department's Professional Standards Bureau will conduct a separate administrative investigation into the incident.
No arrests have been made. The cause of death has not been released. The story was first reported by AZFamily and has since been confirmed by KTAR and AZCentral.
Why is the Professional Standards Bureau involved if this is a homicide investigation?
Phoenix PD's Professional Standards Bureau conducts administrative reviews of officer conduct separately from criminal investigations. Its involvement here does not indicate officers are suspects in the homicide; rather, it is a standard departmental review of how officers responded to the call. The homicide investigation, led by detectives, focuses on the family members present at the scene.
The administrative investigation's timeline and scope have not been disclosed.
Sources
Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.
- AZ Family (3TV/CBS5) retrieved 11/08/2026 01:15
Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 11/08/2026 01:15. Every claim traces to a source.
