Three hospitalized after Tempe party shooting; gunman sought

Before gunfire sent guests fleeing a Halloween house party in Tempe, Arizona, police were already on their way to a noise complaint. Three people were shot and hospitalized, and by Saturday afternoon, October 24, 2026, no arrests had been reported. A gathering that had continued into the early morning had become a search for a shooter—and an anxious wait for news about the wounded. ^{1 4}

The most consistently reported injury breakdown was two people critically injured and a third with minor injuries, according to police information carried by AZ Family, FOX 10 and KTAR. WCTV’s October 25 account gave the same breakdown. Those reports describe injuries after the shooting, not verified current hospital conditions. No subsequent improvement or death has been confirmed in the available reporting. ^{1 2 4 6}

A partygoer’s account offers a possible explanation for how the night turned violent: an argument escalated, the homeowner asked a man to leave, and he opened fire. But that sequence remains a witness’s allegation, not an established police finding. The noise complaint explains why officers were heading to the house; it does not explain why someone fired a gun. ¹

Laay Chase told AZ Family that a couple began arguing as the gathering continued around 4:30 a.m. She said everyone knew each other except the man who was with the woman. As the confrontation grew more heated, Chase said, the homeowner asked him to leave. She said the man then pulled out a gun and began shooting. ¹

Chase described ducking behind a kitchen counter while her friends were hit, then being pushed into a room. She recalled hearing three or four shots, then two more, followed by what she thought sounded like an automatic weapon. Her recollection establishes neither a reliable total of shots nor the type of weapon used. Police have not confirmed those details in the accounts available. ¹

Neighbors told AZ Family that people ran out the front door after the shots. Some reached cars and sped away; others fled on foot and knocked on neighbors’ doors asking for help. Inside, Chase said, guests tried to control a wounded person’s bleeding while waiting for officers. ¹

That account puts Chase’s experience of the gunfire inside the house. It does not establish where the shooter and each injured person were standing, or whether any shots were also fired outside. Those distinctions remain unconfirmed; “at a house party” is not a precise reconstruction of the scene. ^{1 4 17}

Yellow police tape still blocked off the house Saturday. Neighbor Tara Delbaugh, who said she knew the injured people well, described a young woman wounded in the lower leg, a young man with what she understood to be a through-and-through wound, and another young man with substantial internal injuries who was in intensive care. She said the man with the through-and-through wound was expected to be okay. These were a neighbor’s descriptions, not hospital-confirmed assessments or verified ages. ¹

There is an unresolved disagreement about the severity of the injuries. In its October 24 reporting, 12News said all three people were critically injured, attributing that information to Tempe police. AZ Family, FOX 10 and KTAR reported two critical injuries and one minor injury; WCTV repeated that breakdown on October 25. Nothing available establishes that the difference reflected a medical change, a correction or a reporting error. The consistent total is three people shot and hospitalized. ^{1 2 4 5 6}

The clock is less exact than it may first appear, too. AZ Family’s detailed account places the shooting around 4:30 a.m. KTAR and the Daily Independent attach approximately that time to the loud-party response, with officers still en route when the gunfire occurred. The supported sequence is clear—police were on their way, not established as already at the house—but separate times for the complaint, dispatch, shooting and arrival have not been confirmed. ^{1 6 7}

Local reports identify the street as East Pebble Beach Drive, rather than the shortened East Pebble Drive used initially. The nearby-intersection descriptions also differ: FOX 10’s October 24 account places the scene near McClintock Drive and Southern Avenue, while AZ Family’s detailed account describes a home near Rural Road and Southern Avenue. An exact house address has not been established, so neither description should be treated as a precisely verified location. ^{1 4}

The clearest dated custody statement comes from FOX 10’s October 24 report, displayed as published at 2:06 p.m. Mountain Standard Time: no arrests had been made. AZ Family’s detailed account says police were working to identify and find the shooter. Neither establishes a later custody status, and no verified suspect identity or description is available in these accounts. ^{1 4}

For now, the central questions remain who fired the shots and whether the people reported critically injured recover. Chase’s account gives investigators a possible sequence to examine. It does not close the case, and the initial injury reports do not tell the wounded people’s families—or the public—how their recovery has progressed.