Constable said a Phoenix man killed after an eviction had shot first. A new report shows that wasn't the case

Law enforcement first called it a shootout. But it wasn't.

The full report about a fatal encounter between a constable and a tenant after a 2022 eviction in Phoenix changed significantly from what authorities initially laid out.

After smashing through a sliding glass door on the patio, it was the constable who fired multiple times at the tenant.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office investigated the death of Marcus Mungeam, a 33-year-old tenant in the city’s Arcadia neighborhood, who died in July 2022.

The initial incident report about the shooting said Mungeam had fired a gun at a deputy constable, prompting a shootout that ended when he took his own life. The full unredacted report, however, shows he wasn’t facing the constable when he was shot and was holding a gun to his own head in his apartment bedroom. And Mungeam never shot at the constables.

While the constable fired his weapon five times, investigators found only one shell casing from Mungeam’s gun. He had shot himself.

The deputy constable was on site with two other constables days before the shooting to evict Mungeam. Constables are elected by county voters, but deputies are not. Both serve warrants and process paperwork. When Mungeam did not leave, the deputy came back with one of the elected constables to physically remove him, which is outside of their job description.

The initial report released to the public was challenged in court by Judicial Watch, a conservative-leaning watchdog judicial organization. The Sheriff’s Office was forced to privately release the full 366-page report, which was obtained by The Republic. The office also released a copy of the full report to The Republic after a public records request, but it contained redactions that the other did not.

The full report also shows protocol was not followed in allowing someone on the scene of an incident who was not law enforcement.

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has had the full report since February but has yet to decide whether to take any action against the constables involved.

One of the constables involved has since resigned, while the other was promoted with a pay raise.

What happened — and didn't happen — during eviction shooting

At 9 a.m. July 12, 2022, constables Steven Perkins and Doug Clark arrived at the El Camino Apartments at Thomas Road and 46th Street.

Clark and Perkins devised a plan to break in through the back sliding glass door, announce themselves and then remove Mungeam.

According to the full report, Clark brought along a ballistic shield that he wasn’t authorized to have or trained to use and handed it off to Perkins. Clark popped the door with a sledgehammer and Perkins used the shield to smash through the now spiderwebbed glass door.

“I think there was a — a communication problem right then,” Clark said during his interview with the investigators from the sheriff’s office. “The next thing I see is (Steve) is punching the glass out with the shield. And he — he went in and I — that was not my intention. My intention was hey, let's — let's get it clear and — and then see if we can get him to come to us. But he walked through.”

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Clark said he saw Perkins walk in and he heard a bang.

“I'm like, f--k bad guy just shot at us. And then (Steve), I think he cranked probably maybe four rounds off,” Clark said. “I said, 'What the f--k is goin' on.' He goes, ‘Man, he — he had the gun, he pointed it right at me.’ And then he — he either said he put it in his mouth or he pointed at his head. And that — that was it.”

Mungeam did have a gun. And Clark’s story mirrors the first publicly released version of events, which said that Mungeam shot first.

But the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office’s investigation — and even Perkins’ interview that was part of it — contradicts the narrative that was told to the public.

“Deputy Constable Perkins described Mungeam as standing between the bed and the east wall of the bedroom, facing east towards the wall, and was holding his arms up but bent at the elbow and out from his shoulders,” the report reads. “Deputy Constable Perkins described giving multiple commands to drop the gun but then heard a distinct ‘click’, that sounded like the trigger being pulled with a malfunction or an empty chamber. Deputy Constable Perkins stated he then fired.”

Perkins said he tried to shoot the gun out of Mungeam’s hand, a skill he said he learned in training. The Republic could not confirm if officers are trained to shoot items out of suspects’ hands.

Perkins said Mungeam “shrugged” and went to rack his gun. As he moved it up toward his head, Perkins said he believed the gun was pointed his way and he shot again.

The inaccurate initial reports claimed Mungeam fired at least two shots: the first at the constables and the second at himself.

Perkins, though, fired five rounds: three ended up in a neighboring apartment, one went through the neighbor’s opposite wall and then outside and one hit Mungeam in the neck. No one was injured by the stray bullets.

An investigator working with the Mungeam family in gathering evidence for a civil lawsuit told The Republic that it’s likely Mungeam shot himself after Perkins’ bullet hit his neck.

Perkins said it was Mungeam himself who made the fatal shot.

Rick and Capri Mungeam, Marcus’ parents, said they have unanswered questions since seeing the report and wonder why they weren’t told what actually happened.

“There's a whole lot of confusion about the number of shots and who shot who and what,” said Capri Mungeam. “There was only one bullet casing on the floor in his bedroom. So then how did he possibly shoot twice?”

How constable shooting investigations are supposed to be handled

Constables are not governed by any law enforcement body, such as a sheriff’s office or police department. However, state law requires constables to refer to sheriffs’ protocols or regulations in instances where there is a legal liability.

Because they are elected, constables answer mainly to voters. Their role as law enforcement, though, is murky legal territory, and judges and attorneys general have tried to clarify what exactly they are allowed to do.

According to Maricopa County constables’ regulations, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office must investigate any incident involving a firearm, independent of other law enforcement agencies. The sheriff’s investigation can determine if officers are allowed to carry their weapons, but is not required. The policy does not detail when constables can or should use lethal force.

Clark immediately went back to work with his weapon and a month later pointed his gun at someone who was trying to restrain their dog from attacking him. Perkins was reissued his weapon the same day as the shooting, according to the sheriff’s report. He returned to work a month later after a psychiatric evaluation, according to constable records.

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Clark has since resigned from his position, after The Republic’s previous reporting that showed he falsified reports and had a history of breaking the law and using government materials for personal reasons, including finding dirt on political rivals.

Perkins, however, was promoted to a position within the Maricopa County constables and received a pay raise from $25 an hour to $27 an hour, along with supervisory duties over the county’s deputy constables, who are appointed to their positions and certified through AZPOST, the agency that trains state law enforcement.

And while police interviewed Perkins after the shooting, police reports showed that a man named Christopher Sumner, who was elected and sworn into office in January, nearly five months after the shooting, also was at the scene impersonating an elected constable and in possession of investigatory documents.

“I took custody of the crime scene log for this investigation by Maricopa County Constable C. Sumner,” read the police report, adding that Sumner did not have a constable ID number, which identifies him as law enforcement. “Mr. Sumner advised me had no serial number assigned to him at that time.”

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Video recordings show that he was allowed to stick around. The Sheriff's Office redacted information about his presence in the report they released via the public records request.

The Maricopa County constable's office said Sumner was there as part of a ride-along but would not provide documents showing he received approval to ride in the county vehicle. Records also show that Sumner was serving warrants alongside constables months before he was sworn in and had worked alongside constables for the entire month of July serving warrants.

But the bigger question is whether constables should have returned to Mungeam’s apartment at all.

Clark and Perkins "should never have been there to begin with,” said Luke Palmer, a constable in Gilbert. “Not involving local law enforcement when things go outside our scope of office is a huge risk, we should not be venturing into this area of handling and transporting people experiencing a mental health emergency. We are peace officers, not first responders.”

Constables in Arizona

What is a constable?
A constable is one of two elected officials in local courts. The other is the Justice of the Peace. There are 62 constables in the state, each belonging to their own precinct court. Their main duty is to serve paperwork, such as warrants, writs and notices, on behalf of their courts.

What can a constable do?
Their duties have shifted over the years, from gunfighters to paper-pushers. Constables are considered peace officers, but only in the course of their duties, per state law. They are not on-duty as a police officer might be, who can make arrests whenever they see a crime.

What qualifications do they have?
No law enforcement training or background is required to be elected constable. Once elected, however, constables are allowed to get trained and certified by the police academy to carry a firearm.

Who oversees constables’ actions?
Though the Constables Ethics, Standards, and Training Board is supposed to review all complaints made, little can be done except for probation and urging constables to resign.

It's a dangerous job, with less pay and low qualifications

In Arizona, constables are used primarily for serving writs and court warrants, including evictions. And that part of the job is increasingly dangerous in an unstable housing market, where more people face evictions from their homes.

In the past two years, one constable in Tucson was shot and killed while trying to enforce an eviction. The safety of people serving eviction paperwork has led some counties across the nation to task local sheriffs with the job, alongside their other civil duties.

Constables are required to call in local police to remove people if they are unwilling. They can also call in other constables if they feel unsafe.

For some, that safety risk comes at a salary below even the state’s average salary of $52,000 a year.

In Mungeam’s case, there are questions that his parents both have about training. For one, why did Perkins shoot first if Mungeam was facing away? And what training did the other constable have in clearing a home without the support of local police?

“Why did they do it?” Rick Mungeam said. “There's got to be some strategy to why they were doing this.”

He and Capri Mungeam both believe the constables have tried to make the case go away quietly.

“I believe that's what they're attempting to do,” Rick Mungeam said. “That's why we haven't heard anything from the Sheriff's Office. And we haven't heard anything from the attorney's office.”

Marcus’ parents have filed a civil suit against the Maricopa County constables but said all they want is accountability for the officers.

“I don’t know,” Rick Mungeam said. “These guys are all just a bunch of cowboys.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Report sheds new light on shooting death of Phoenix man after eviction