Explosive device tossed at cop car in shocking dawn attack — detonating with officer inside

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An Arizona cop escaped with his life after two brazen suspects hurled an “undetermined explosive device” at his patrol car.

Police rushed to the area of 96th Street and Hampton Avenue in Mesa early Thursday morning after a report of shots fired.

As an officer stopped with his emergency lights on at 96th Street and Sunland Avenue, a person can be seen on video, obtained by AZFamily, tossing an object with what appeared to be a lit fuse at his car. The object then exploded.

Mesa police have not determined what kind of explosive device the object was, but believe the suspects targeted the officer. The cop was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, but was released later Thursday. His car appeared to suffer light damage from the attack.

Two suspects have been arrested and booked: Christopher Byasse, 57, and Christopher Jones, 55.

Byasse is charged with aggravated assault against law enforcement, arson, and misconduct involving a weapon. He’s already prohibited from using a weapon, police said. Jones has been charged with one count of arson and a count of criminal damage.

Three people were initially detained,

Police said the initial shots-fired call appears to be unrelated to the explosive device incident.

There’s no current threat to the community.

Officials said a nearby school was placed on a brief lockdown due to the incident.

International security consultant Karl de la Guerra told AZFamily the explosive device incident appeared to be a “targeted type event.”

While he was unsure what type of device was used, he expressed confidence that police could determine what it was through their investigation.

“There is going to be a blast radius there. There is going to be an area where the explosive device has come apart, and evidence is going to be left behind, all the way down to the microscopic level,” he said. “Law enforcement is going to be looking at the evidence was left behind. They’re going to be able more than likely to rebuild this device and image and be able to tell exactly what kind of a device it was.”

Mesa is a city in Arizona’s Maricopa County just east of Phoenix.

The investigation remains ongoing, police said.

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