Two men were rushed to the hospital Sunday morning after an argument inside a west Phoenix Ethiopian restaurant erupted into gunfire, sending a suspect vehicle fleeing into the surrounding neighborhood and drawing a Phoenix Police helicopter into the chase. The shooting happened around 8:15 a.m. on Oct. 4 at the Addis Ababa Restaurant and Café, near 35th Avenue and Bethany Home Road — a Sunday morning that began with a relaxed crowd inside the venue and ended with officers detaining multiple suspects and two families waiting for word on their loved ones.
01What happened inside the restaurant
According to FOX 10 Phoenix, Phoenix police officers responded around 8:15 a.m. on Oct. 4 to reports of a shooting at the Addis Ababa Restaurant and Café, and investigators quickly learned that a dispute inside the venue had escalated into violent chaos. Witnesses described a scene of sudden panic inside the building as a minor disagreement in the back spilled toward the front entrance — and then shots echoed through the venue, leaving two men wounded as a suspect vehicle sped away from the scene.
KTAR independently confirmed the core of the incident in its own reporting: two people were hospitalized Sunday morning after being shot in west Phoenix, with officers called to the area of 35th Avenue and Bethany Home Road for reports of a shooting around 8:15 a.m., according to the Phoenix Police Department. The restaurant and the argument detail come from FOX 10 Phoenix’s reporting; KTAR’s account, which cites Phoenix police directly, corroborates the time, the location, the two victims, and the fleeing vehicle.
Family members gathered near the scene were left waiting anxiously for updates on their loved ones’ conditions as the investigation unfolded through the morning.
02The helicopter tracks the fleeing car
The pursuit above the neighborhood was the thread both newsrooms confirmed. KTAR reported that while officers were responding, police were informed that a car had fled following the incident — and the Phoenix Police helicopter helped locate the vehicle so officers could detain the people inside. FOX 10 Phoenix’s account matches: the Phoenix Police Air Unit tracked the getaway vehicle from above, guiding officers on the ground directly to the car, where they detained the occupants.
It was a fast-moving sequence — a shooting call at 8:15 a.m., a fleeing car, an eye in the sky, and detentions on the ground — and it is the part of the story on which every available account agrees.
03“We just came to the club”: voices from the scene
Von Wilson’s brother was one of the two men shot. What started as a relaxing morning at the restaurant turned tragic in an instant, Wilson told FOX 10. “We just came to the club … Me and my brother was just chilling, everybody was vibing,” Wilson told FOX 10, recalling a calm scene before his brother got pulled into an argument that kept escalating — until, Wilson said, “it ended up with him getting shot two times in the back.”
The victim’s father also rushed to the scene, and spoke through tears about his son being shot alongside a second victim who was struck in the leg. When the father learned officers had intercepted the fleeing vehicle, he reacted with relief: “They already got caught already by the police… That’s good,” the father told FOX 10. Beyond that, he had only one thought. “I don’t know what to say, but I want my boy to be all right. That’s it. That’s all I want,” he said.
04What police have confirmed — and what they haven’t
The confirmed facts, as reported by FOX 10 Phoenix and KTAR: the shooting happened around 8:15 a.m. Sunday at the Addis Ababa Restaurant and Café near 35th Avenue and Bethany Home Road; two men were wounded by gunfire and transported to a local hospital for emergency treatment; a vehicle fled the scene; the Phoenix Police helicopter located it; and officers detained the occupants.
What remains unknown is nearly everything else. The current medical status of the two victims has not been released — KTAR reported that the victims’ conditions were not known, and FOX 10 Phoenix likewise reported their status as unknown. The identities of the detained suspects have not been released, and the exact cause of the argument that preceded the gunfire remains unknown as police continue their investigation.
05A Sunday morning in west Phoenix
The 35th Avenue and Bethany Home Road corridor is a working stretch of west Phoenix — restaurants, small businesses, and apartment blocks — the kind of place where a Sunday morning crowd gathers for food and music, not for what happened this weekend. By midmorning, the restaurant that had been full of people vibing, as Wilson put it, was a crime scene with a helicopter overhead.
For now, the case sits where many shooting investigations sit in their first days: the immediate danger contained, the suspects in custody, and the central questions — who pulled the trigger, and why an argument inside a restaurant turned into gunfire — still open. Phoenix police have not announced any charges. Previously’s Phoenix desk will update this story as the investigation develops.
