Police: Phoenix resident slain in apparent home invasion

A 78-year-old man was fatally shot during an apparent home invasion early Friday in west Phoenix, according to police.

Police say Jess Sixkiller's wife called 911 at about 3:15 a.m. to report that someone had broken into their home near 55th and Highland avenues. While on the phone with the dispatcher, the 79-year-old woman told police she was hiding in her bedroom but could hear someone yell "police" in broken English, said Officer James R. Holmes, a police spokesman.

At one point, the woman told the dispatcher she heard a gunshot.

When officers arrived, they escorted the woman from the home and found her husband suffering from a gunshot wound. Fire department personnel pronounced Sixkiller dead at the scene, Holmes said.

Phoenix police homicide detectives have very little to go on, Holmes said, and are asking anyone with information to call Silent Witness at 480-W-I-T-N-E-S-S.