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Detective Nik Rasheta of Mesa police tells reporters about Mesa police shooting a man who had been waving a gun on Sept. 22, 2017 near Southern Avenue and Crismon Road. Gabriella Del Rio/azcentral.com

Mesa police have identified the man officers fatally shot near Skyline High School Friday night as Scott Farnsworth, 28.

Police Saturday night said the shooting is still under investigation, and offered no new details. 

The shooting occurred as a high school football game was letting out at about 10 p.m. near the QuikTrip at Crismon Road and Southern Avenue in east Mesa, said Detective Nik Rasheta, a Mesa police spokesman.

He confirmed Farnsworth died at the scene. No officers were injured.

Rasheta said officers responded to a report of a man walking along Crismon Road north of nearby Skyline High School waving a gun and acting erratically.

As police were searching that area, a similar call about a man with a gun came in, but this time he was seen south of the high school, which is located on Crismon Road just north of Southern Avenue, Rasheta said.

Three officers found Farnsworth just north of the QuickTrip, Rasheta said. Police repeatedly told him to drop the gun, but he raised the gun toward officers, Rasheta said.

A witness in the area heard the officers telling Farnsworth to drop the gun before the situation escalated, Rasheta said.

Police then fired at Farnsworth, Rasheta said.

Police did not know whether Farnsworth walked through school property as he was moving along Crismon, Rasheta said.

Wendy Killeen, a Mesa resident who was going to the campus to pick up her son from the game, said she saw the police activity.

“There were about 40 kids huddling together not knowing what was going on,” said Killeen, a news producer for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. “The kids heard the gunfire.”

According to court records, a Scott Hudson Farnsworth of Gilbert with the same birthdate as the man Mesa police killed pleaded guilty in August to misdemeanor attempted car theft.

He was sentenced to 18 months probation. 

He also faced assault and disorderly conduct charges filed in May, according to court records. 

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